Preparation

A sweet friend from church bought me a journal specially made for Mission Trips. It's called 'My Missionary Journal'. In it there were three sections: Preparing, Experiencing and Reflecting. Though I received it the week before we left, I did immediately being filling in pages in the Preparing section of the journal. You could write all of your contact information, medical info as well as emergency instructions. However, my favorite section was four pages of scripture verses that I was to read and then write a response. I divided up the total number of verses and divided it by the number of days I had until I left and began writing my responses. Each verse spoke in a unique way about different aspects of missions and I could feel God increasing my excitment as I wrote my responses.

My children surprised me and came home from college to see me off. It was Halloween night and I was sitting in the driveway handing out candy when these two "large" children walked up the yard in masks. I was so surprised and they will have no idea how much it meant to me to have them here to say good-by and see me off. Later on my Confession page I asked the Lord if this trip would be the end for me. All my family had come to see me off and that thought just crossed my mind for a fleeting moment.

I had several goals for this trip. 1) To go! Just the going had been a dream for many years. 2) To see the Lord through the eyes of a different culture. 3) To stretch myself in new ways that would be out of my comfort zone. 4) To get to know Cody better and be an encouragement to him. 5) To have the Lord broaden my vision of the world. 6) To experience His provision in a new way and see Him work.

I asked the Lord to remove any feelings of entitlement, pride or judgement and to fill me up with excitement, anticipation, patience, energy, discernment, wisdom, boldness, love, a burden for the lost, a servant's heart, trust, humility and submission. Luke 6:45 says: "Good people bring good things out of the good they stored in their hearts. But evil people bring evil things out of the evil they stored in their hearts. People speak the things that are in their hearts."

Rand bought each of us Max Lucado's book "It's Not About Me". In it Max shares how the moon models our role in life to make our lives about God and not ourselves.

"What does the moon do? She generates no light. Contrary to the lyrics of the song, this harvest moon cannot shine on. Apart from the sun, the moon is nothing more than a pitch-black, pockmarked rock. But properly positioned, the moon beams. Let her do what she was made to do, and a clod of dirt becomes a source of inspiration, yea, verily, romance. The moon reflects the greater light.

And she's happy to do so! You never hear the moon complaining. She makes no waves about making waves. Let the cow jump over her or astronauts step on her; she never objects. Even though sunning is accepted while mooning is the butt of bad jokes, you won't hear ol' Cheeseface grumble. The moon is at peace in her place. And because she is, soft light touches a dark earth."

May I be at peace with my place.