Not Just Culture Shock...Life Shock

As I moved over to Swaziland, I had talked to several current & former missionaries about culture shock & knew a little bit about what to expect.  But what I wasn't thinking enough about was what I've lived out the past two weeks & can only describe it as "life shock":

~ going from a community where I know & am known at a fairly deep level to going to a place where the longest I've known anyone is 3 years (off & on at that)

~ going from a city of 3 million people to a very rural part of a country who's total population is 1 million people

~ going from driving on the right side of the road (and the turn signal being on the left side of the steering wheel) to driving on the left side of the road

~ going from stopping for any pedestrian to having the right away for any person (which is harder to remember when I'm walking & have to know that no one is going to stop & let me cross)

~ going from fences to keep animals in to where fences keep animals out

~ going from leadership in church to attending a church where I am the one who doesn't speak the language or know what's going on in the service

~ going from a warm winter in Colorado to a warm winter in Swaziland (our "cool" day today was still over 80)

~ going from meeting with 10+ people a week to serving alongside all Swazis in ministry

~ going from being part of a team on a church staff to leading a team of ministry partners

~ going from living in community with a family to living alone

~ going from immediate accessibility to anything I needed to having to drive 45 minutes to the grocery store

~ going from spring where it's staying light later & later to winter where it's dark by 6pm each night

These first couple of weeks in the country have been great to get back into the swing of things here, but it's also been very challenging as I adjust every aspect of my life to redefine normal for me.  The one constant in it all is the Lord...and I'm living out the statement "Home is where the heart is"...and I am constantly praying that God would continue to direct my heart back to Him, no matter what my circumstances around me might be.