Where was I 10 years ago...

October 2001- 10 years ago this month I discovered Asia. Yes yes I know, Asia was "discovered" thousands upon thousands of years ago. But until 10 years ago Asia had no place in my life... I am from the burbs. My idea of foreign at 25 was fortune cookies and Outback Steakhouse (note: am not dumping on Outback. Love me some Blooming Onion). I had no interest in Asia or the Silk Road. I had always felt called to serving others but Asia? NO. I had no particular hostility toward China but rather it just wasn't on my radar.

Then I heard about the Uyghurs... I mean Uigrrs... I mean Wee-gurs. The Who-zee-whats-zees? Whatever. The people of Central Asia. These people were literally on the other side of the world and God was calling me there. Surely I couldn't relate to them in any way. Surely God did not know what He was thinking on this one.

Then I went there.

These women became real. They became my friends. Their burdens became my burdens. Their hopes and dreams became mine as well. Then I had to leave. Believe me, I have tried to work out why God placed a Uyghur-shaped hole in my heart only to take it away. I grieved and I grieve still.

What has occurred over these last 10 years could never be captured in one blog post. I have just been through way too much. I am thankful for these lessons but find they are hard to capture... even if I had 1000 blog posts. They have to do with fear, letting go of fear, patience, disappointment, joy, beauty, disillusionment, false hope, love, friendship, dreams and life. I suppose we have all had to live through these things... Mine just didn't follow a straight line.

Maybe my life line is in fact a circle because in July I was blessed to visit Asia once more. Although it has been years, I was able to visit with friends new and old and found that my love for this world and the people that live there is undiminished. I revisited the fact that when I left I worked so hard to let them go... and did such a terrible job. I cannot seem to let them go. So now, I realized that I'm not going to.

I find love for them has not waned... and although we wander a lot (hence www.wanderingrileys.com) my heart does not.