As I sit here, I am at a loss for words...How can I, with the few minutes of battery left on the school laptop, elaborate on the rich layers of experience of the past week?

I could write about many things--the deeply emotional celebration I witnessed as one Saharawi family welcomed home a brother from the Occupied Territories, the truly unique feast I enjoyed on Thanksgiving with American and Saharawi friends, or the incredible cultural insights and memories I've gained in the celebration of Eid-el-Adha these past three days...

And I will share some of these stories, soon....but all these things pale in comparison to the inexpressible joy it's been to awake and walk each day hand in hand with my God. My eyes fill with tears as I grope for words to express how great my Heavenly Father is, and how my most feeble and imperfect gestures towards him have flooded my life with light--for he is so very near and so very willing to answer when we seek him with sincere hearts. (Luke 11:9-13) I must begin with this most earnest praise--and I will restrain my hand for now, for, like John I know that "all the {blogs} in the world could not contain" what there is to write about my Redeemer.

It is my prayer that you might all come to know the surpassing joy found in our God through Jesus Christ...for "he is not far from each one of us." (Acts 17:27)

In the words of one of my Saharawi sisters, "When you go walking towards God, he comes running towards you."

"As for me, I am poor and needy,
but the LORD takes thought for me." Ps. 40:17