Focus on how far you have come not how far you have to go

This title fits me in so many ways. The one thing I think of first is the Thai language. Am I a fluent Thai speaker?? No way, not even close! Do I understand the message at church on Sunday morning? Nope, not really. Can I read Thai? A little bit but I'm very slow that it's not really useful for anything. So, you may be thinking to yourself or wanting to ask me about now--what can you do or what do you know??

I arrived in Thailand a little over 2 years ago and didn't really know one word in Thai. Now I know lots of Thai words. I don't always know how to put the words in the correct order to make a sentence but I do have lots of Thai vocabulary floating around in my brain.

I don't understand everything I hear but I do understand a lot of what I hear and I do know immediately whether someone is speaking Thai or not. A lot of Asian people look the same but as soon as I hear someone start to speak I know they are speaking Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or some other language that is not Thai.

I can not read Thai well and I don't even know all of the rules for writing but I can follow along on Sunday mornings when they sing. I can't always sing along because I read slow but I can find where they are in the song pretty accurately.

I can not understand most of the message on Sunday mornings but I can listen and understand all scripture references given and when I read it in English it makes it easier to follow the message.

I definitely have a long long long long long way to go in finding success with the Thai language but if I look back to where I began I really have come a long way. I am certainly not gifted in learning other languages but God brought me here anyways so I will keep trying to learn this very difficult language and take joy in the little steps of success.