out with the old and in with the new

Wow Im finally posting a blog and I choose to do this blog now because as I am typing this it has been exactly one month almost to the exact time that we have been back in the United States. Wow and what a crazy month it has been. I started school at 9am the following day after our return and woke up at 8:20 it was awesome haha. School has been busy and crammed full of papers and tests and books. Yet even though my life has gone back to "normal" it isnt the normal that I am used to. My life has changed so much in ways that are almost too hard to explain and sometimes I dont even know whats going on, I just know that I am different. Life in general is good for the most part.
 Struggles haha. I think I have had more struggles in my life since I have been back then I did before I left. But there is a difference in my struggles. Because I am not struggling with a painful experience or trying to overcome some sort of addiction or something. I am struggling with what God is doing in my life and I cannot get enough of it. I wanna know what he has planned and how I can accomplish His will faster. When I came back, I had a meeting with my pastor, Pastor Joe, and he asked me to come up with 10 words describing my trip on how God changed my life. This was no easy task. I saw and experienced so much in such a short amount of time, how could I possibly express all of that in 10 words? Well in the end I figured it out :) I found out exactly how God changed me. I came up with " He took me, broke me, and built me back up" God forever changed my life on this trip. God had a plan for me on this trip. I didnt bring anyone to Christ, I didnt save anyone from death, but I was changed. Gods plan wasnt for me to lead a HUGE revival in Africa, His plan was for me to be changed so that I can more readily accept his will for my life. He helped me find myself and who I am to be in life. I realized so much on this amazing trip.
Ive struggled with people not being so excited about my trip. I came back and almost expected life to change in a drastic everyone will be different type of way, but only I was changed. It was hard seeing people not being that interested when I have so much to tell. I wanted to show and tell sooooo much from my trip but its like life just moves on. I really struggles with life just moving on without waiting for me to tell everyone.
  Lets see here so I know that God changed me and me made me into Jeremy Byrnes Man of God. I know think more about every choice I make. I am no longer living for myself. I am living my life for God even more than before, my kindergartners, my youth kids, my kids from Africa, Zane, my family, my church family, and my friends so that when they see me, they dont see a boy trying to find his life in a world of sin. But a man who is fully dependent on God in life and who is able to conquer the sin that is around him. Uganda has forever changed my life and I look forward to going back in 2013 if not sooner. One day after I have accomplished my goal of becoming a dentist/orthodontist I would love to go to Uganda and work for a few months and just pull teeth for the people there because they dont have any dental help.
Another positive note is that I told the team while sitting at Two Friends for dinner that I wanted to lose weight. Well ive lost 15 almost 20lbs since our return and I hope to continue this :)
God Bless

- Jeremy Byrnes