Let Me Go Home! Home Is Wherever I'm with You

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GMS' end

They all warned me about it: the misery that comes with leaving a summer training program. Refusing to say "goodbye" to anyone, only saying "goodnight," I left my last night of GMS on a note of denial. Two hours of sleep later, and Emily and I were on our way out for the 14-hour drive that awaited us. Before we could leave, however, we were comforted and sent on our way by the Goodbye Crew that stayed up all night to see everyone off. We happened to be some of the first people to leave (besides poor Ashley whose early flight back to Arizona meant she had to leave around 3:00). The tears that flowed partially from the insanity from no sleep, partially from grief over the end of GMS were overwhelming enough to make me want to leave Ohio behind and stay in Burlington forever. Luckily, Emily had more sense than I and was the first to drive, so I had no choice but to go back home.

Oddly enough, I had been praying for this moment: that whatever pain I would experience from leaving 40+ people I love would fully sink in to my heart. Why would I want this? Let me backtrack a bit and explain...

lessons from wise people

Through the summer, I learned along with the rest of GMS about the character of Jesus through Bible Study in Colossians, Salt and Light challenges to explain Jesus' good news to people in Burlington, musical worship and wisdom from speakers across the country during Nav Night, service projects around the city, working part-time at a New England chain supermarket, Price Chopper; and living with 40+ other college-aged men and women who set out to learn alongside each other. The encouragement, challenges, new discoveries, important reminders, and true fun we had together made this summer the best summer of my life (no offense, Young Life camp; you're up there too).

Some life-changing wisdom God taught me this summer came in the packages of conversation with staff and friends from GMS, family and friends back home, and through the words inspired and spoken by God and recorded by men in the Bible. A few of these lessons include:


• accepting and loving myself exactly as I am because I "died and life is now hidden with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:3, NIV)
• loving others and hearing their perspectives with an open mind because my "conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt" if I intend to mimic Jesus' perspective of others (Colossians 4:6, NIV)
• believing that I am "chosen...holy and dearly loved," and don't have to earn the affections of anyone because God "has reconciled by Christ's physical body through death to present holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation" (Colossians 3:12 and 1:22, NIV)
• it's alright if I take a long time to understand and live out something I've learned; for Truth to move from my head to my heart because He "created my inmost being;/ knit me together in my mother's womb," and knows what I need and when I need it (Psalm 139:13, NIV)
• God is like a mother eagle. "He stirs up your nest. He disappoints your hopes. He brings down your confidence. He makes you fear and tremble, as all your strength fails, and you feel utterly weary and helpless. All the while He is spreading His strong wings for you to rest your weakness on, and offering His everlasting Creator-strength to work in you. All He asks is that you sink down in your weariness and wait on Him" (from Andrew Murray's Waiting on God). I'm learning to use the wings He's given me as His child, and when I fail and fall, He will catch me and carry me back to try again.
• a new mindset I'm adopting in any relationship, friend, family, or other, is to love them with the intention of leaving them in a better place then when I found them.
• Jesus' grace is sufficient for me because His power is made perfect in my weakness- all of my weaknesses (2 Corinthians 12:9)

since GMS

These lessons have stuck with me since I travelled back to Ohio from beautiful Burlington. Moving into my Mom's house in Lebanon for the intermission between GMS and fall semester at UC (no more quarters!) has been a challenge in itself, but a great place to sit, rest, and process through my summer. Catching up with family and friends in Ohio has been a blessing now that I've learned and experienced so much; now I have so much to talk about that I can't possibly catch up with a person in one setting!

Along with the excitement of sharing my summer with people back home, the culture shock I didn't expect but nonetheless experienced as I left the large, tightknit group of people with whom I grew so much in one shared space (Jeanne Mance, aka the Mance-sion). My first morning waking up in the quiet rural suburb of Lebanon, Ohio without a roommate (miss you, Dali!), without plenty of people downstairs with whom to share breakfast, without the rush to find a ride to Price Chopper for work, without the beauty of the mountains and beaches to absorb was rough. I almost (not actually) missed the fruit flies that took residence in the kitchen from so much GMS withdrawal. Creeping on GMS friends' Facebooks and our Facebook group only caused more grief as I realized just how distant I was from everyone.

But not all of the time has been difficult. I have been nannying my 6-year-old brother, David, and have seen bits and pieces of what kind of sanctification comes through taking care of a child. My selfishness and sin are made much more apparent as I spend the whole day, Monday-Friday with David. His desire to simply spend time with me, however, have shown me childlike love and the beauty in being quick to forgive.

one last thanks

Thank you to all of you who have been supporting me financially, and through prayer and encouragement. I hope you can see the results of your support, a life-changing summer with which God has blessed me and which He is already using for His kingdom. I've said this many times, but I can't say it enough: I'm so thankful for this summer and cannot imagine where my heart would be or how my life would look had I not gone to Burlington, Vermont for the summer training program, Green Mountain Summer. A new chapter of my life has already begun because of the transformation God is doing in my heart.

Love you all,

Meredith Tipton

p.s. What would a post from me be without music videos? The first is the song that gets stuck in my head whenever I return home from somewhere, the second is a song I first heard during the summer and continued to hear floating out of girls' rooms all the way down the hall in Jeanne Mance. Enjoy, friends 😊

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Photos

GMS Banquet
The last day of GMS was celebrated with a banquet at New Moon Cafe.