It’s your life / What you gonna do? / The world is watching you / Every day the choices you make / Say what you are and Who your heart beats for / It’s an open door /
To live the way that you believe / This is your opportunity /
To let your life be one that lights the way

… “It’s Your Life,” Francesca Battistelli …

Life is beautiful. The sky is a brilliant blue spotted with white puffs of cloud, the earth teems with green grass, and a cool breeze captures the heat and sends it away. The base is quiet this Sunday afternoon as people lock themselves away from the world to enjoy either the solitude or the company of a friend.  Starbucks coffee warms my stomach while the gentle tapping of my computer keys lulls me into a peaceful state of mind and body.  Sitting here, reveling in the beauty I see outside my window and the sense of calm that has cloaked my shoulders, I know I am blessed beyond reasoning.

School commenced Wednesday before last on the 11^th, and we just completed our first full week of classes on Friday. I have sixteen students this year, ranging from the tender age of 8 to 13.  Each one has a unique personality with specific ways of learning, and I am doing my best to understand each child as an individual and adapt my teaching to suit him or her as needed. I have learned to forgive myself for small mistakes, because I am still learning how to be a supervisor.  Last year served as training for this role, but this is the first time I am a true-blue supervisor with all the added responsibility that goes with the title. Fortunately, I have a good group of students and a monitor who is willing to help where needed.

After school on Friday, three of my students from last year came to speak with me for a little while.  The two girls never leave the school without hugging me first, so it was nice to spend some time talking with them and the boy who came to visit as well.  As I stood talking with them, I couldn’t help but smile.  I spent all of last year watching those three learn and grow, and now I can see the results.  They are maturing, and I have been a small part of that process as their former teacher. I may not be their supervisor this year, but I will still have them in my Conversational English class. As such, I will be able to continue teaching them and working with them each week, for which I am incredibly thankful.  I love all of my students, both the old and the new, and I cannot imagine losing them. I know they will all one day leave the school, but I know I will always have fond memories of them. Who knows, maybe I will see them again years from now.  I hope I do, because I know these kids will grow up to be incredible men and women. God can do so much for them, and I look forward to seeing how their life stories play out.

Apart from the school and the students, base life has been just as interesting and rewarding. Living on the base is very much like living in one large house with a crazy mix of family members.  You may get on each other’s nerves, but the love that resides here will always overpower the tension.  We are a family, grieving and celebrating together as life rolls forward into the future, and last night was an evening for celebration. Two of my good friends here, Kyle and Nicole, were married over the holiday, and last night all of us on base gathered together for a celebratory dinner reception. Tilla and I planned the entire evening together, with Tilla acting as the party planner and I as hostess.

At one point in the evening, I was standing off to the side as Kyle stood at the front thanking everyone, and as I stood there looking out over everyone gathered together, I was filled with a sense of peace and love.  Every person at that dinner came from a different background, upbringing, and for some, a different country. And yet all of us had been united in that one place as a family. It doesn’t matter where you come from or how opposite you may be from the person sitting next to you. In Christ, we are all one family, and in this small spot of land in the northern area of South Africa, God created a family that defies all earthly reason. Every day, Satan loses a battle he desperately wants to win.  Every day that this base and school succeeds in its purpose, God wins another battle.  I know Satan is throwing everything he’s got against this place, but still we stand firm. I know there will be challenges this year that will try us all, as a family and as an individual, but we can and will prevail. Last night’s celebration served as a reminder of that. In the good times and bad, we stick together, and I am blessed to be a member of this family.

Returning to South Africa for a second year is going to be a challenge. It will be a test of my faith in God’s provision.  I knew that when I made the decision to return, and I was reminded of it again when I bought a one-way ticket to SA. All I knew walking in to this year was that God would provide all I needed simply because He wants me here. I have no doubt in my mind that I am exactly where God wants me. Some people have questioned me on this, and my answer never changes. I know where God wants me, and I am here for that purpose, rain or shine.

In the three weeks that I have been here since my return, God has already provided in unexpected ways.  I don’t know how long He wants me here, but I can rest assured knowing He has already planned every day and He has already plotted out the provisions I will need to get where He wants me to go. I stand on firm ground looking out to the future with a world of experience at my back.  The wind is blowing me forward, and I cannot keep the smile from my face.