Twas Grace That Brought Me Safe Thus Far

Yesterday I left Houston, Texas, on what would be the final lap of my journey through the United States. I flew from Houstin to Austin, from Austin to Dallas, and finally, from Dallas to Kansas City International. Here I spend two more weeks, until starting my flight back to the United Kingdom on August 15th. I arrive home on August 16th.

As the family I stayed with passed out of my vision and I began my long walk to my gate, I cried. Trying to accept that all of it was over and that I was probably never going to see these people again was very hard. I don't think it's any good trying to write it like a story, because who wants to hear of ragged sobbing that would ease off and then come back? :P
Needless to say, I was feeling very alone, very young and very afraid. Then this dear lady walked by me, stopped and said, "Do you need some tissue, sweetie? I know how you feel, I was crying my eyes out a few hours ago."
The kindness of it touched me and I started to cry again. God was still looking after me, and showed it through the simple kindness of a lady passing me some tissue.

Boarding the plane from Houston to Austin, I sat next to a lovely young lady named Jordan. She didn't exactly get my life history, but enough of it to know that it had been a tough ride.
I told her about the writing forum, and gave her the links to and names of some of the books. We shared some things and I hope to meet her again on Facebook someday. God showed me kindness in this also, otherwise I probably would've cried through the flight.
On reaching Austin Airport, I managed to get online for a while before boarding my next flight. It was quite a short flight.
The flight from Dallas to Kansas was the worst emotionally. I cried through the entire boarding process (yes, this is getting rather embarrassing to admit) onto the plane - badly enough that the flight attendant who was checking the boarding passes asked if I was all right.
Sitting down, I found I was next to a lady in her 40s/50s. She had her daughter in front, with her grandson, and what appeared to be her son-in-law and another grandson two seats ahead.
The grandson was a cute, chubby red-headed boy of about two years old. Don't you just love them - the kind that stand up in their seats, and peek around the chair to pipe out, "Hello!" I beeped his nose at one point, at which he exclaimed, "You're silly!" XD
The first thing that caught my attention was when she passed her daughter a child's book on Jesus. Of course, that could be just America for you, but...
We started chatting after a while - starting because of my crying, again. It turned out that she WAS a Christian, and from what I could tell, a sound one. Her name was Melanie. I told her, roughly, what was going on in my life right then, and she promised to pray for me over the coming year, assuring me that it would get harder, but that God was with me - and also, strangely, to keep on with my writing because she could tell I was passionate about it (apparently my eyes light up when talking about it!) and she believed God was going to use that.

It was very heartening and encouraging to speak to both Jordan and Melanie on the flights. God used both of them to distract me from my grief, to bless me, and to remind me that He was still there, watching over me and caring.

There IS an "ever, ever after," and a happy one, even if the world tells you it's not smart. Because one section of your life ends, it doesn't mean life has. There's always joy to be found where God is, and that's where the happy ending comes in.

Trust Him. He's caring for you.

God bless,
~Jane