Last summer I went white water kayaking in the Provo River in Utah. I was in a one person kayak and had no experience. Of course I flipped my Kayak several times.
At one rough patch in the river my kayak flipped and I was tossed into the midst of rushing swirling currents.
Go with the flow, my friend had forewarned me. "Just lie flat on your back and let the currents carry you downstream."
It's not a natural tendency to just lay back and relax in the midst of turmoil. You want to begin swimming to save yourself. Your instincts kick in and you fight back in order to survive but sometimes the best way to survive is to not fight. You have to let the current carry you downstream.
As I think of my experience so far in AD, my adventure on the Provo River comes back to mind.
I have to apply the same principle here.
Nothing has really gone according to schedule since we've been here.
Since arriving we have pretty much been in the dark about most things.
We came here not knowing where we would be living. We didn't even know the name of the hotel in which we would be staying.We walked off the plane and were shuttled by buses to our unknown destinations.
Days after our arrival we finally found out the location of our apartments but now we have no clue when we will be moving into them.
The illusive paycheck and furniture allowance have yet to appear in our bank accounts.
News gets to us slowly and changes quickly. One minute you hear something and the next minute it changes.
Nothing is constant except our lack of knowledge.
It's easy to want to lash out from frustration, to complain and moan about everything that is going wrong.
I'm literally down to my last few bucks so I definitely am feeling the pressure to have things fall into place fast.
I'm tired of eating food from the mall and not having a place of my own.
When I start to feel upset, I have to remind myself to just lie back and go with the flow. I'll save my energy for the part of the journey that really matters.
I make jokes and laugh with my friends about being broke and getting fat off the fast food I can't hardly afford, this is my way of dealing with what would otherwise be a very stressful situation.
There is no sense fighting what I have no control over. Eventually it will all fall into place, the currents get calmer and you can walk away felling a bit braver.