On May 31, 2012, Jonah had his accident which led to his amputation.  On May 31, 2015, our family boarded an airplane with our all our worldly possessions (eight suitcases) and one cat to return to the USA.

It was hard to leave the USA in 2009, however, we knew we would be coming back to visit, for furlough’s, to see family & friends, etc…  It was hard to leave Cameroon because we don’t know if we’ll ever step foot there again.  Cameroon was our home for five years and that’s where the boys call home.  We don’t know if we’ll ever see any of our Cameroonian family & friends and our expatriate friends again.

After Jonah’s accident, the struggles with health in our family, the deaths of colleagues in Cameroon, the crazy amount of stress David was under and so much more, I really struggled to say, “God is good.”  Last year in a trough period of struggle, I started to search Scriptures, my heart and through prayer the statement of God is good.  What I found in myself is that I was defining good through my human mindset of being nice, not causing harm, kind, useful, pleasant, enjoyable.  Enduring the things we’ve been through weren’t pleasant, enjoyable, kind or nice and I was steeped in disappointment and anger.  My eyes were fixated on the above and my perspective was self-focused.  I was defining good meaning when I’m made happier, when I’m more content, when things are pleasant for me.  I failed to see how good in the long term might result from struggles or suffering in the short term.  There are 61 verses about the goodness of God.  When I read those verses that state God is good, it’s who He is – it’s His nature, it’s not something that’s contingent on pleasant, enjoyable, etc… set by the standard of each person, it’s just who He is.  I bring all this up because this morning during my quiet time I read Mark 10:18 with fresh eyes and was reminded of the journey I traveled last year.

Blessings to you on this May 31, 2016.