This blog post is long overdue, but since we’ve
finished fundraising I have been sort of at a loss for the words to communicate
all of the emotions that have come with it.
I have never been so overwhelmed with God’s
goodness and faithfulness, and never been more grateful for the body of
Christ-my family, friends and brothers/sisters in the faith-who have taken this
mission as their own and laid down pieces of their lives for it…that kind of overpowering,
humbling thankfulness is just really hard to communicate!
The best I can do is copy part of my journal
that I wrote right after I got the news. We had just landed back in the States
and I turned my phone on and got the email with the pledge that made us reach
our goal! What does it feel like to be called by God to do something
impossible, to be completely broken over how inadequate you are to do it and
then to watch in complete amazement as the Lord does miracles and the very
thing you called impossible isn’t any more? How do you respond to that? I’ll
tell you- it includes lots of tears and phone calls and a whole lot of praising
God in a way that makes the people around you think twice about getting on an
airplane with you!!
May
12, 2012,
“Thankful, overwhelmed, joyful, disbelieving, in awe, fearful, excited, loved, supported, strengthened, humbled, broken,
inspired-these are just a few of the things I am feeling right now.
In the last 48 hours I’ve found out that we
have raised almost $170,000 in gifts and pledges, traveled to the island and back
in a plane the size of my car, hugged old friends and met new ones, begun
relationships with each of the three high schools, and I have once again fallen
in love with this place and these people! God is good beyond all we imagine or
deserve and I am willing to stand by and let God lead and change me every day
of the rest of my life if it means being allowed to see God’s glory and
faithfulness displayed in such a breathtaking way!
'Did
I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?' –John 11:40
Now this doesn’t mean that this next part of
the adventure is going to be easy, it’s going to be really, really hard. I am
going to miss my family and friends more than I can imagine and desperately
ache to be with Ben. But what it does mean is that God will meet me in that, the
way he has done in the things I’ve described to you so far, and for all of my
life! And that’s worth it…
This next month of preparation and goodbyes
is going to be hard, but sitting here right now I know it is going to be nothing
compared to the joy of walking side by side with the Bahamian youth into the
arms of Jesus…I absolutely cannot wait!!”
