Becoming a reality

Wow! I just read on Facebook that we are going to Uganda next week...NEXT WEEK! WHAT?! Ohhh, yes, that would be happening next week. Wow. It seems like forever ago when I was first asked to go on this journey.

This past weekend I was given the opportunity to share my testimony (the short and concise 3 minute version) at church. The sermon that followed dealt with choices each person makes. In Pastor Paul's words there is "grasshopper mentality" (Numbers 13:31) in which we tell ourselves "we can't" or there is Faith mode (Joshua 2:24) that tells us we CAN! The sermon went on to compare the attitudes of the people during the attempts to enter the Promise Land. I could not have designed a sermon to fit what I felt God was calling me to share if I had written it myself.

Over the past three months I have had "Grasshopper mentality" several times. I have thrown my hands up and said "WHAT AM I THINKING? I CAN'T GO TO AFRICA!" I have gone through every excuse--it cost too much and there are many other things we could use the money for, who will care for the kids, I have too much schoolwork, the loss of wages from taking time off is too detrimental. You name it and I tried to reason with God and myself, telling myself that this was something I could not do. But each time it came down to a simple response of "Go." And if God says "Go," I am going to follow His command and trust that all is under control!

Never would I have thought that God could use me...someone who struggles with my faith and remaining obedient, to go and minister to people on the other side of the world. But maybe that isn't God's plan. Maybe I am to go so that these young girls and their stories can minister to me. Or maybe I am to go to hear their stories in order to share them with someone else who needs to hear them. Whatever the reason, I am ready. I am ready to serve.

I ask that each of you continue to pray for all those that God wants to be on this trip. Pray that the financial burden will be taken care of. (Pray that I am able to cram three weeks of school work into the next 8 days) Pray that each of us will remember to open our spiritual ears, fight the grasshopper mentality, and reach out in faith.

I feel it my friends, God is about do great things in the lives of so many!!!

I'm leaving on on a jet plane (but I do know when I will be back again!)

Today, it is official... I am the proud owner of an airline ticket to Uganda. In three weeks time, I will leave all this white, cold slush behind to fly half way around the world to a world unlike anything my mind will allow me to fathom. What a great way to spend my 35th birthday! I am excited. I am nervous, yet I am unusually calm. I know that God has a plan for each of the people who are going on this trip and that our lives will be richly blessed beyond measure.
I have learned over the past few weeks that the more I pursue God, the more Satan actively tries to interfere. The great thing is, our God is soooo mighty that Satan's efforts are nothing more than foolish tantrums for something he will never have! What an awesome God we serve! I am confident that as the time approaches, Satan's attempts to attack each person going on this trip will increase. Please continue to pray for each of person going, as well as for those we are going to encounter. Pray that as the smaller details unfold, that each of us will feel God's hand and understand the plan that He has for this trip!