Let me start by acknowledging that this post may be way too long and serve no purpose for anyone other than myself.  Since this is a safe space to process what is shifting and deepening within me, I am going to use this space accordingly.  This also serves to add another marker to this journey I am presently on regarding my mission and legacy.

A marker was placed in April of 2023 when I spent time in Israel/Palestine.  It was deeply impacting intellectually, emotionally and spiritually.  One of the women I interacted with was serving in Bethlehem with the EAPPI program of the World Council of Churches.  It is a noble and necessary work for justice for the Palestinian people.  Even more so now that Israel has expanded it’s genocide beyond Gaza and into the West Bank.

Let me pause here to say to those reading:  if you have a different understanding of the Israel/Palestine conflict, please accept my invitation for you to share your thoughts and insight with me.  It is truly my desire to understand the many perspectives which exist in this conversation.

A marker was placed in May of 2024 when this question was asked of me:  If you could go anywhere and do anything what would you do? My unplanned, unscripted, instant answer was that I would be an EAPPI in the West Bank.  It caught me by surprise that this was still in my heart and mind a year later, primarily because I had already researched the qualifications and requirements for this program and concluded that I am not qualified, nor is it a realistic pursuit for me.

A marker was placed in September of 2024 when I learned about Global Immersion and this cohort.  A marker was placed in October of 2024 when I was able to participate in the final “info session” despite being on a trip in Turkey at that designated time.  God was sovereign over the wi-fi!  A marker was placed in December of 2024 when attending the NEME Forum on Israel and Palestine and discovering that Jer was speaking at this event.

God has been leaving markers along my path to here and now.  What is shifting and deepening within me?  The acknowledgement that it is time to leave vocational ministry in my local context to pursue what is next.  What is next?  A destination yet unknown.  I have had a curiosity about why God has granted me the opportunity to travel extensively and has developed in me an ever-expanding global awareness, when my leadership has primarily been rooted in local communities.  But words spoken by Dr. Padilla-DeBorst, with her global perspective on the mission of Christ-followers, have confirmed for me that my global-awareness is a gift that I have been given and to be used for a purpose.  Then words spoken by Nina Barnes have confirmed in me a sense of urgency: I have no time to waste.

So I will add one final marker which seems unmistakable, but meaningful only to me: Ivy (my 3 year old granddaughter) is currently obsessed with the soundtrack from Frozen 2 and I have lost track of the number of times I have listened to the song “Into the Unknown” over these past few months.  God is so personal in this journey to even use this 3 year old’s princess obsession to direct my path.  Yes, God, I hear you and yes God, you do know the part of me that is longing to go.  Here I am Lord, send me!