Counting Down

A week from today, I will be finishing my first full day in Costa Rica. Lots of emotions are ricocheting inside me as I finalize details and day-dream about what it's going to be like and who I'm going to meet. Now that the countdown is less than a week long, the reality that this is actually going to happen is setting in. The enormous amount of unknowns is overwhelming to me if I dwell on that thought for too long. And while I am super excited at the thought of this adventure I am about to experience, there is an annoying voice inside me that says, "Why on earth would you go so far away to a country that speaks another language and be with people you've never met before for three whole weeks and encounter who knows what when you could stay at home and relax with your friends and family and be comfortable!" And if I listen long enough, I start to fear and worry that I'm going to get lost in the airport or take the wrong bus and get lost in a massive foreign city and forget all my Spanish, or that I'll be sick and miserable and have to go to the hospital, or that all my luggage, money, phone, iPod, and ID will be stolen and I'll be stranded on another continent having never learned the vocabulary to explain my situation and will be unable to look it up because my dictionary was in my bag that was stolen.

But eventually I stop myself from listening to that voice of fear. I know that no matter where I go, I am never alone...even in stressful airports, in foreign countries, and when I am surrounded by a sea of Spanish-speaking strangers. God is with me, and will guide me and protect me. It is my choice to fear or to trust, so God, help me to trust.