Well we are six days overdue now on our return flight home, and according to the airline it will be another eleven days until we’ll be able to depart Sydney to then arrive 30hrs later in London.So we are stranded! Marooned in paradise…. a place that we have known as home our entire life – up until now.

Almost two years ago Jonathan and I had a strong sense that God was calling us out. We weren’t sure why or for what purpose but we knew, that we knew, that we knew that it was time to sell our stuff, pack our bags and embark on what might be our greatest adventure, or possibly our greatest failure. So one Friday afternoon we left Sydney airport headed for a life not yet known in London. With nothing but a one way ticket, two suitcases and a guitar, the journey begun…

Fast forward>>> two years >>> we return home for the first time (as visitors), and there isn’t just two of us now – there’s three, due to our new British addition named “Jones” (a creative mixture of Jonathan and I rolled into one cuddly screaming bundle). After a few weeks of soaking up the sun, swimming in the ocean and catching up with so many loved ones we sit delayed and frustrated, ready to return to our new home. So as I take some time and begin to reflect on the last two years, I am surprised and amazed – amazed by how much God has done in our lives and surprised how unattached I am to everything I’ve always known as home.

God truly has been good. I have returned with new eyes and a new heart. I’m content, at peace and full of joy. I’m excited about the future and secure in who God has called me to be. I know His love like never before and am confident that His grace is sufficient. There have been moments over the last two years that have been incredibly difficult – he has purged us of a lifetime of “stuff” that needed to be corrected and restored, BUT… He has covered us, gone before us and provided every single need, no matter how small or how great. He has connected us with what I believe are the greatest people on earth. We are so blessed to be in the community, the church and the city that He has chosen for us for this season. We are healthy, strong and alive, and He has given us every good thing.

Whilst there will always be a hole in my heart as long as I am separated from family and that glorious ocean I have always sat in front of, I now have deeper understanding and knowing of something even greater – and that is His love and His faithfulness. I now feel the satisfaction of walking the path that He has chosen, living abandoned, ready to do whatever He asks and holding onto to nothing but His promises.

So today my prayer is a prayer of thankfulness- Psalm 100, A psalm. For giving thanks.

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; 
 Come before him with joyful songs. Know that the LORD is God. 
 It is he who made us, and we are his; 
 We are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving 
 And his courts with praise; 
 Give thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; 
 His faithfulness continues through all generations.

And as I thank the Lord, I look forward to returning to London, overly excited about the next two years, knowing that wherever God is, wherever my husband, my son and I are together, that truly is home.