The Evidence of God

Well, it’s about 9:00 pm and it’s finally time to board our plane to head to London.  I have not been nervous at all about all these plane rides until NOW.  As we start to head down into the terminal I am suddenly overwhelmed with anxiety.  But “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” 2 Timothy 1:7 

Man am I having to remind myself that He is in control!

Once we get settled into our seats, the plane starts rolling and we get in the air I am fine.  All anxiety is gone! But Michael is still not so sure ;)

Now to get some sleep…..

Unfortunately, the much needed sleep that we were looking forward to hasn’t happened.  We are totally exhausted!  I am so ready to get off this plane!

And this little tv that shows us where we are is pretty cool but it sure does make for a long trip when you’re watching it the whole entire time!  But at least it’s daylight now so we can see outside!

    

                                

Looking at the clouds from ABOVE (which is definitely a different view) is breath-taking and it reminds me that creation in itself speaks of the evidence of God.  Who else could create such magnificence?!  “For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.” Romans 1:20

I hope there are clouds in Heaven :) I told Michael that I can’t picture It without them, then again how can we possibly picture Heaven?!  Nothing we can ever dream up in our minds will come close to comparing to what we will experience when we get there and I have NO DOUBT that we will NOT be disappointed!

The Day We've Been Waiting For

The day is September 13, 2012, the day I’ve been waiting for, for months now.  We get the kids ready for school and say our goodbyes.  I want to keep the day as normal for them as possible even though it is killing me inside.  I know they are going to be in good hands while we are gone and they are pumped about their 2 week “sleepover” at Mrs. Lori’s :) But the thought of leaving them for 11 days while I am half way across the world is a little unsettling to me.  Thankfully though, the hotel we are going to stay in has WIFI so at least we will be able to Skype with them and through an app on my iPod we’ll be able to text them as long as we have internet.  That should make the days without them a little easier.

After I drop the kids off at school and endure the seemingly extra long, emotional drive home, we finish packing all of our stuff, checking and rechecking to make sure we have everything.  It isn’t like we’ll be able to just run to Walmart real quick if we forget something.  We are going to be in Kenya for 11 days for crying out loud (well, minus the 4 days travel time there and home)!  But God reminded me ever so gently through a friend (as He has been doing quite often) that so what if I forget something.  God will provide whatever I NEED while I’m there.  I may not get there with everything I WANT but I won’t be lacking. Philippians 4:19 says, “And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.”

Within about an hour or so, Brother Gary comes to pick us up, we go get Tina and head to Dallas.  We get to the airport around noon which means we have about a 5 hour wait before Tina’s flight.  She has to take an earlier flight than all the rest of us because our plane was full when they booked the tickets.  But by the time Brother Gary gets parked, we get checked in, we unload and rearrange some of our stuff in our luggage (because it’s over the weight limit),  the rest of our group gets there,  we get to our gate and all that fun stuff it’s just about time to see Tina off. 

I have to admit, it seems a little bit silly but watching Tina disappear into that terminal all by herself, feels like I’m watching one of my own kids leave me.   I don’t like it.  :(

Let the Journey Continue

Well, it’s been a while since I’ve written.  I had every intention of keeping my blog up to date  while we were in Kenya but it seemed like there just were not enough hours in the day.  By the time we got back to our hotel each night, had our group meeting, got cleaned up and had dinner I could barely keep my eyes open. 

Since we’ve been home I’ve thought about getting back on here and filling everyone in on the trip but it seemed like every time I tried I just drew blanks.  I kept telling myself “there is no way that words will ever be able to do this justice so why even try?”  And it’s true, I will never be able to put what I saw, what I felt, what I heard, what I touched, what I experienced into words that will ever truly help anyone understand what it was like in Kenya.  But a sweet friend posed a question to me the other day that struck me to the core.  She said, “Does the Journey of Faith and Trust in the Lord stop simply because a mission trip ended?....I know the whole trip seems overwhelming –and it is.  There seems no way to capture in mere words the miracles God performed in your sight (why do you think the writers of the Bible had so much trouble conveying their message?)  Words just seem so empty and inadequate.  But you are no different than the biblical writers…just write about what you felt.  Write about the evidence of God you experienced.  Allow God to ‘inspire’ what you write.  Remember, II Timothy 3:16?  All scripture is INSPIRED by God…God-breathed.”  So that is just what I am going to do, allow Him to “inspire” my words, His words.

Just like before, this isn’t about me, it’s about HIM.  So with some prayer and a little nudging from a friend, I’m going to attempt to “take you to Kenya.”  And when that journey is over, no it doesn’t end. We’re going to go wherever God decides to take us ;)  So…let the journey continue!!

16 Days Until Kenya

Wow, here it is already August 28!  I haven't been on here in a while.  Seems like life got crazy busy all of the sudden and I look up and we've got 16 DAYS until we board the plane for Kenya!!  Where in the world did the time go?!  Everything that I've anticipated is almost here.  God has been so good and He is Faithful and man have I learned to trust Him during this process!
I'm so excited, it's almost time to go meet God's precious people in Kenya but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit nervous, a little anxious.  Maybe it's because the reality of everything that seemed like such a dream before is finally here.  Maybe it's because I'm leaving my kids for 11 days and will hardly get to talk to them (even though I know they'll be in great hands while we're gone) much less see their sweet faces.  Maybe it's because this is something so much bigger than me and I don't have a clue what to expect.
But there is one thing I know and it's this...God is going to show up!!  As a matter of fact, He's already there and He's preparing the hearts, as we speak, of the people that we will encounter.  And what's cool is that He's still here too with me and with my kids and with the team that we are going with and He's preparing each one of us, as we speak.  And I know that no matter how anxious I may get about any of this, God is in control and He is sending us out "to the farthest ends of the earth" because He has a plan and a purpose for us and for the people of Kenya and for my kids.  What a testimony I get the privilege of bringing back to my children!!
And I just believe with all my heart that God is already orchestrating a perfect plan for us to meet sweet Dorothy!!  And if we don't meet face to face, well, there is already a piece of my heart over there in Kenya because God saw fit for us to meet on Facebook!  I treasure the "conversations" I've had with her.  And Dorothy is praying for us :)  What a blessing!!
So many emotions!!  I never dreamed that I would ever be going on a mission trip OVERSEAS much less feel the way I do about it right now!  Happy, sad, excited, overwhelmed, humbled, unworthy and the list goes on and on.  All I know for sure is that I serve a mighty God and I am honored to be able to "GO" and be His Hands and Feet!!

Dorothy

Tuesday night we decided to take the kids fishing at the lake and these fishing trips always end up with a VERY late “homecoming.”  We got home about 1:30 am, got the kids and ourselves all settled and in bed around 2ish and I decided to check my Facebook before I called it a night.  About 20 minutes had passed when a message came through from “Dorothy from Kenya!!!!”   You can imagine my excitement because I had responded to her message about a week ago but really deep down I doubted that I would ever hear from her again. 

Our conversation went on back and forth for about 2 hours and it was beautiful!  I keep saying it over and over but I just love how God works….Dorothy found me on Facebook through the little inspirational pictures that I repost and share on the newsfeed.  And now it makes sense to me as to why I always make those public instead of sending them where just my “friends” can see them.  God used one of those pictures to touch Dorothy’s heart all the way in Kenya!!!!  Who’s to say there haven’t been more people throughout the world who He has ministered to in this way?!

Dorothy is a believer…she was very quick to tell me that she was “born again”, she is a part of the worship team in her church and even the job that she has is a ministry J  She loves her Savior!  I told her that Michael and I were coming to Kenya in September to share the love of Jesus with her people and that when she messaged me the other day I did NOT believe that it was coincidence.  I told her (and I believe this with all my heart) that God is up to something BIG!  She also agrees with me that this is no coincidence and is excited that we are coming.

She lives about a day’s journey from one of the places where we will be serving so the chances of actually meeting her are pretty slim but she and I are both praying that God will work a miracle and that somehow He will bring us together while we are there. 

You know, I don’t know what God is doing in all of this but I DO KNOW that He is definitely at work!  I also may never meet Dorothy this side of Heaven but I will forever have a friend in Kenya who GOD has placed in my life for “such a time as this.”  I will FOREVER be grateful for the opportunity that God has given me to be His hands and feet in this and I believe that I haven’t even begun to see the half of it!!  My God is BIG and I know that He has BIG plans for the people of Kenya and for the team that is going over there!  

He's Up to Something

I truly believe that when we know God has called us to do something, He will continue to put it in the forefront of our minds.
I don't understand everything that He is allowing me to see and experience right now but I know He is up to something.
This evening I checked my "other" messages on Facebook (which I rarely do, even if it's showing something there, simply because most of the stuff in the "other" messages is generally junk).  But I was taken back by the message that I saw this time.
I received a message from "Dorothy from KENYA!"  At first, my natural self was a little skeptical by what I was seeing.  But the more I looked into it and thought about it, I thought, "what are the odds that I would receive a random Facebook message from a lady in Kenya at this very moment in my life?!"
I just can't help but believe that this is surely God and He is preparing me/us for something AWESOME!  And what if, just what if we got to meet Dorothy while we are in Kenya?  You can bet that I am going to memorize this lady's sweet face so I will know her if God sees fit to cross our paths thousands of miles across the ocean!!

God's Grace is Amazing

I've been sitting here on my couch this morning, just me and my coffee, thinking back on the meeting we had last night for the Kenya trip.  The closer and the deeper we get into it the more amazed I am at what God is doing.  I love to think about how God is already preparing the hearts of the people in Kenya.  
And as I looked at the pictures Shara showed us on her computer last night I know that God is also preparing my heart because I can feel myself falling in love with these people already.  I am honored and humbled that God has chosen to allow me and Michael to be a part of His work.  What have we done to deserve this????  Nothing at all...He just loves us that much!  
The blessings we receive when we are obedient to His call (no matter what it is) are amazing.  I wonder how many of His blessings I've robbed myself of because I either wasn't listening and didn't hear Him or just flat out refused to "step out" and follow Him because of fear or anything else?  I'm so thankful for His Grace and that He gives us second chances.  I can't wait to watch the rest of this unfold. I can't wait to see what He's going to do in the hearts of the people of Kenya and our own while we are there!