All I know is God's timing is perfect...

Well' I'm not gonna lie, kind of excited to get home. They say home is where the heart is, so I guess that says where my heart's at :)
So today was a big day. Thank you all so much for your prayers! God answers prayer, that's a fact, always according to His perfect timing and in this case it looks like His timing is tomorrow. As Air France continues to be in turmoil with their flight sitch and as the airport in Paris continues to be mayhem, it appears that God is saving us from all that. So instead of going through Paris to Seattle on Air France, we're now going Air Senegal to Dakar, Senegal (I'll say hi to your folks Jules!), then Delta airlines to Atlanta then Atlanta to Ptown. We leave tomorrow, Tues, at 8pm Burkina Faso time and get home Wed. night in Ptown at 7pm Ptown time, hallelujah! This is seriously only by the grace of God that we were able to get this flight; long story, but basically there are many others who were on our same original flight that won't get out of here until Thursday at the very soonest, goo!
Also, there were two big groups, one from Pennsylvania & one from Alaska & other small groups that are supposed to be arriving here in Ouagadougou on different missions trips and they had to cancel their trips completely. It makes me wonder why I got to come and they don't, but all I know is God's timing is perfect.
So the last few days have been funny, like funny-interesting more than funny-haha. It's funny how when you have an expectation to leave at a certain time and then that doesn't happen there's such a tendancy to get anxious. Had I known the whole time that I was going to be here 2 weeks and 3 days there would of course be no issue. But when our plans change and monkey wrenches get thrown into our agendas (I think I just invented a new expression :), that's when God really gets to work on us. All I know is God's timing is perfect, and over the last couple o' days as I've been praying over Phil. 4:6-7, where it says "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer & supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus," it's totally worked! Duh, I know right? But the Lord has given me a peace about just being here & hanging out in Ouagadougou :) It's like Bonus Extended Time in a video game or something, and I've definitely been able to make the most of it.
It's been somewhat relaxing, we got to go to our pastor friend Daniel's church yesterday which was awesome. And figuring out this whole plane ticket thing, camping out at the airport & Air France office in downtown Ouagadougou has definitely been an adventure, especially since no one really speaks English :)
So what I'm reminded of is the part right after Phil. 4:6-7 in verses 12 & 13 where Paul says "I know how to be abased & I know how to abound. Everywhere & in all things I have learned both to be full & to be hungry, both to abound & to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
Now I wouldn't dare to compare my current situation with anything Paul had to endure, it's certainly not prison or shipwrecking :) In fact, you shouldn't feel sorry for me at all, we've been very well taken care of with great food, company, time to read and time to reflect; it's been a cool time to just let this awesome trip sink in. But the point is, Paul says he learned to be content in ALL situations & anxious for nothing. For me, the key has been in verse 6 where he says "with thanksgiving" because as soon as I started giving thanks to God for everything I could think of, my anxious thoughts about getting home went away and I got my peace back and I got my joy back!
As I was reading this morning, I came across Phil. 2:1-4 and I had a note by that passage that I wrote in my Bible that says "J.O.Y. = Jesus Others You", in other words you'll always have true joy, the joy of Jesus if you're putting Jesus first, others second, then you. I love that and it was an awesome reminder for me today, I miss out on so much joy when I start thinking about myself over Jesus #1 and other people #2.... ahhhh good stuff!
Well, that's pretty much what God's put on my heart to share with all you, and I really really really want to say thank you SO much for all the awesome comments and prayers, they've really meant a lot to me and they've been really encouraging :)
Ahhh, God's timing is perfect, that's all I know, but I can't wait to see you when I see you and hopefully that's oh so soon! I'm hittin' the hay, the journey back starts tomorrow!
In His Perfect Timing,
RyGuy