I got the Chile travel book for Christmas. I had drawn a large thermometer on a poster in my room with the title “Chile” at the top and began to slowly color it in tracking the support I had raised. I spent some of my spare time researching what it would be like to live in Chile and talked with people that had lived there about it. “You’ll love it,” they all said. I believed them as I was already begining to love it.
In late February/early March, I sat down to read my Bible. I was going through the Bible in a year and was in the book of Numbers chapter 9.
… in the place where the cloud settled down, there the people of Israel camped. Numbers 9:17b
The Israelites followed a cloud around the desert for years. They didn’t know where exactly they were going or when they would be moving. Day by day they followed the Lord’s direction. If I were an Israelite and known where we were headed, I would have probably (1) settled in the wrong promised land and (2) gone a different way missing some of God’s blessings and lessons.
As I read this passage in Numbers and meditated on it, I felt the Lord asking my heart, “Will you really follow Me anywhere I lead you?”
Colombia. It took me some time to process what I had just read in the email I had received. I was going to Colombia, not Chile. Okay, Lord, so this is what you meant a couple days ago when I was reading Numbers.
From Chile to Colombia. Chile felt safe, modern, and comfortable. All I knew about Colombia was that it had a drug and violence problem, and I would have to convince my family that I’ll be safe.
While my mind knew that this was where God was leading me and understood the logical reasons for the change, it took my emotions some time to follow. I spoke with several people to learn about Colombia, to answer my questions, and to inform my family that Colombia isn’t really that dangerous.
Lord-willing, I’ll be moving to Medellín, Colombia in late spring or early summer next year. I am looking forward to my time in Colombia and developing relationships there!
Gloria Images 