As I sit here in a new physical, mental and emotional space I must say But God!
You see on Saturday Aug 5th I boarded a airplane at 6:00AM headed for Union Mills NC to attend the Center for Intercultural Training. One would say that this is an absolutely beautiful location while others would say it is in the woods at the foot of the mountains. Where is the bug spray! It is a beautiful day. The sun is shining bright and the temperature is in the 80’s. Coming from the TX 100’s, this is great! I say to myself, today is the first day of the rest of my life.
I had a wonderful wise man by the name of Larry pick me up and we chatted about he and his wife’s missionary journey. We stopped by the grocery store to pick up a few essentials before heading into an area where the nearest grocery store is miles away. I get to my apartment and started to put stuff in order. After all, I will be here for a full month. I figured I might as well get settled in. After about 2 hours, 10am I looked around and found that there was nothing left to do, so I sat in the living room on the couch and figured I would journal some. Ten minutes into it, I realized I felt all alone and yesterday was the last day of my great work from home government job and life as I have known it for the last two and a half years. No more paychecks every two weeks like clock work. No more apartment, no more car, no more….. I begin to really question if I made the right decision. I panicked a bit (more than a bit) and went into prayer after more than a few minutes of questioning my decision to walk this out. Now I must tell you the hardest part is the inner noise. The voice that says “you will no longer be a productive citizen because you don’t have a job. You will be poor. You will fail. Are you sure you heard the Lord correctly?” Even with a clear understanding that the voices speaking has so much to do with my embedded values and the enemy together, it still screams. Silenced gripped me and I pick up my journal and the first sentenced I penned was “ABBA, it’s just you and me now…”.
There is something to be said for being obedient, but not enough said about the cost of obedience. I remember when I started building the non profit God told to build , I was looking out the window, after having a disagreement with my husband at the time, asking God what will this cost me? I know I heard everything. 15 years later I am beginning to understand. I have pondered over and over again what the LORD spoke to Abram “Get out of your country…” and how he may have felt. Gen 12 It is a very vulnerable place. Or Jesus telling Levi the tax collector “Follow me” Luke 5: 27
BUT God! never leaves us alone. Sunday morning I spent time listening to the Word of God and Sunday afternoon I met the missionaries that I will be spending the month with. Some are going places like Poland, Italy, Dominican Republic, Israel and Brazil to do all types of ministry. I am amazed by the amount of people fulfilling the call of the Great Commission that has been brought into my life.
The 1st week was rough trying to get into a routine. Maybe because I am older, change does not come as easy as it did when I was moving around in my younger years. It could also be the mindset that by now I should be settled down, not preparing to move to another continent. School is going well. It is intense and a lot of amazing information, lots of reading and homework, a plethora of practical knowledge that we can take to the field with us. Yep, that’s just week one!!
I am still believing God that I will be fully funded before month end, so that by mid Sept I will be getting settled in – in Eswatini. If you have not prayed about becoming a monthly partner, or a one- time supporter please do. Ask the Lord how you can partner with the work that He is leading in The Kingdom of Eswatini!
Thank you for your prayers they are allowing me to stand! That’s all for now. Must get after my homework.
