Hi all, 

It‘s been a bit since I’ve written anything so I thought we were due for an update. It’s been a rollercoaster of a ride these past few months, at times I’ve been so high I can see everything around me. How the clouds may be low but the sun shines just as bright above them, how small everything looks from a broader perspective, and how good this wind feels on my face in the midst of the climb. And at times I feel like I’m free-falling through the air with nothing to hold me to this world but a thin metal bar around my waist. I’ve always loved that feeling, you know? The moment before you realize you’re secure and your body convinces itself that there‘s nothing to catch it. When your stomach feels suspended in your abdomen and your heart starts to beat a little faster. It‘s fear, yes, but the best kind. That’s what this journey feels like. 

Last month was a hard reminder that there are highs and lows to every journey. It‘s an easy thing to know but a hard thing to really understand. Last month was hard. I was distracted, I was tired, I was unmotivated. I was grieving and celebrating in the same week. My fundraising suffered, I suffered. But I’ve always felt that falling is just another excuse to cling to God. Lately I’ve been realizing that the highs and lows are a perfect opportunity for just that. And honestly, most weeks we are simultaneously grieving and celebrating something if we truly thought about it. Life is a rollercoaster. It’s never going to be just lateral traveling. And if it is, maybe we ought to rethink what ride we actually want to be on. Highs are Gods redemption for the lows. Lows are an opportunity for us to learn perseverance. It doesn’t take away the pain or fear, but gives us another type of security to hold onto. One that does not depend upon comfort to be safe, or circumstance to be joyful. 

This month was a beautiful reminder that God is a redeemer. For if last month was my low, this month was surely my high. And guess what, I’d love to take credit for it and say I was more motivated and did more, but I wasn‘t and I didn’t. God was just really, really good. And I got to be a spectator to his glory. Life is not defined by only the lows, or only the highs. It is both the suffering and the glory that we must rejoice in, because God works in it all. And I’m so gosh dang excited for every tear-streaked, laughter-filled second of it. People ask me all the time if I‘m scared of doing “so much traveling“ or going to “so many dangerous countries”(Sorry mom). Well, this past month has cultivated an excitement in me for what‘s to come like no other I’ve felt before. I’m afraid, yes, but in the best way. Because I know what God is going to do. I may not know how He’s going to do it, but I know, because I’ve seen it before. And I can‘t wait for you all to see it too. 

Thank you so much for reading! 

-Hannah [but $4,000 closer to being fully fundraised (thanks Jesus!)]

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.   -Galatians 6:9

Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.             -Romans 5:4