Wrapping Up

I love being home. This past week has been full of sleeping, playing golf with my dad, going to a friend's wedding, and reconnecting with everyone. After coming back to the states there have been many things about Thailand that I have missed and other things I have NOT missed. Words cannot describe how much I have missed my Thai friends this week but nothing beats lunch at Five Guys with NO rice! Haha I learned so much this summer and it is an experience that I will never forget.

Missy came home from camp this afternoon so our whole family is back together!! We decided to have a big meal to celebrate but it all became very weird. All four of us sat at the dinner table and no one said a word. We were all thinking the same thought but none of us were bold enough to say anything without bursting into tears. "We miss Mom!"  It was so hard to come home and not be greeted with her beaming smile, but I know that she is smiling in heaven with the Lord!

This summer was so good for me because I was able to clear my head and do something I have never been able to do before. It was hard to leave two months ago, but looking back, I'm so glad that I did. When I was flying home from Japan to LA, I decided to spend some time with the Lord and as I was praying, this is a sentence that popped into my head: "To be used for his eternal purpose takes your mind off the heartache of the temporary situation." Kinda sounds like this verse:

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

I am so thankful that the Lord used me for His eternal purpose because it reminded me that this life is not the end. Sure this life is hard and there are moments of pain, but they are only temporary. One day I will be in Heaven praising the Lord with all my fellow Thai believers and of course my wonderful mom! Thanks for reading.

For the King,
Tate