"The will of God is not something you add to your life. It's a course you choose." Elisabeth Elliot

The next month of blogs is going to chronicle for you our experiences on our first mission trip as a family. However, we're not there yet...we're in California waiting for the rest of our group to arrive so that we can cross over into Mexico together. So, before the "mission" actually begins, we want to share with you the journey up until this point.....

It's a very interesting thing to follow the Lord. Most of the time it makes no sense whatsoever....at least to the natural mind. 1 Cor. 1:27 "But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty".

Last year we began to sense that we needed to go on a family missions trip. So, the Lord began to stir our hearts where we were and we began going downtown Fort Collins, ministering to the poor. We've gone to Planned Parenthood to pray peacefully against the murder of the unborn. We've brought food to the hungry on the side of the freeway but the urge to go as a family somewhere never left. It seemed that the little things we were doing continued to miss the point. It's hard to get God's perspective on the poor and hungry when after you feed them you go out to a restaurant for dinner. So, the pull to immerse ourselves in an environment that would forever change us grew. We began to consider several places like Cambodia, Nairobi and Haiti. We had contacts in all of these places but none seemed to be the right place. Then in January, there was one particular day when praying about a missions trip and having God's heart when out of the blue Mexico came to mind. So we began to pray about it and it seemed as if this was the place. Why Mexico? We don't know but God does. Mexico has never been on our grid but it seems that it's on God's.

We had a friend who had been to a mission on the Baja Peninsula so we contacted her and found out more information about this place. It was Foundation For His Ministry (ffhm.org). We seemed to know this was the place we were supposed to go to. It wasn't too long before we realized that going for a week wasn't sufficient for us. We didn't want to just go for a few days, do some good, and then come back to our suburban life. We needed to live with these people. We needed to love them like God does. We needed to experience poverty, hunger and despair. We needed to look into the eyes of who we are spiritually apart from Jesus. So, the decision was made to stay for a month. Actually, that's what we felt God say to our hearts after we prayed about how long we should go for.

So, the adventure began. We submitted applications and waited. We waited for nearly 6 weeks for an answer. Finally, it came. We were going to Mexico! Then the battle began. One at a time, well meaning friends and family began to inform us of Mexico's current "climate"...you know, the activities around the drug lords.....Well, we would fend off the little attacks from Fear one at a time until the onslaught began to wear us down. Did we really hear from God? Is it horrible for us to bring our children to this place? What were we thinking? Couldn't someone else go and do the job and we could stay home and be safe? We didn't have to wait to go to Mexico to be in the middle of a war...it had begun in our own minds. Night after night the tormenting thoughts would come and day after day we would push them aside. Finally the days and nights ran together until God.....

She might be in her early twenties, maybe late teens, but regardless, she's a tall, elegant daughter of the King. She came to our garage sale and we began to talk. I had known her for a few months but today we went from being acquaintances to friends....the kind of friend that loves you with the Truth. She came just at the right time. The battle was raging in my mind although I continued selling items that I had owned for years for a quarter. We began to talk and eventually my struggles came to the surface. After listening for a while, she looked at me with an interesting expression and then spoke..."You know, that doesn't sound like God. I mean, it doesn't seem like God would be trying to warn you from going to Mexico in the form of fear. After all, the Word says He has not given us a spirit of fear". WHAT? My heart was taken back. Somewhere in all of this we had lost sight of the Word. The Word that sets you free. The Word that cleanses you. The Word that gives you Peace. How could we have forgotten the Word? Immediately the scriptures began to pour in...."Perfect love casts out all fear", "There is no fear in love", "Fear hath torment", "The Lord is my helper, I will not fear what man shall do unto me"....and on and on and on. What a washing! What a clearing! Instantly the war was over. God had won! The victory was His and His alone. All of our reasoning had left us empty but God's Word had filled our hearts with Peace. We were officially back in the game.

Then the heart of God appeared. "For God so loved the world that He gave...". This isn't about us. It never was. It's about others. It's about the poor, the little children, widows and migrant workers. It's about the weak and lonely. It's about the lost that are groping in darkness. We are not our own. Our children are not our own. We are His for Him to spend us as He chooses. What a comfort to know that we belong to the Lord and that nothing shall come near us except that God chooses it. Such freedom!

The next hurdle was coming up with the finances. As of 2 weeks before our trip was to take place, we didn't have a single dime towards it. With us being gone as long as we have planned, we needed quite a bit more than just the amount for the trip. For all 6 of us to go and be gone for 6 weeks, we needed about $9,500. We felt the Lord asked us not to send out letters for money but to ask for prayer instead. So, we trusted him and waited. Several days later it began! First, we received a phone call from a man we met once 3 months ago. He informed us that God had given him a dream and in that dream he was told that he was supposed to sow financial seed into our family! The first money for our trip began to come in...that was the first testimony. Then music work from everywhere began to pour in. All of it needing to be done in less than 2 weeks! There were so many miraculous moments! Then there were calls and letters and $100 bills falling from the visor of our car! By the time we left Colorado, we were only about $400 shy of our total amount and, for some reason (hmmm), we feel that it will come in while we are gone! God has been so faithful to make it clear to us that we are to go to Mexico. He has provided in miraculous ways!

So, we are now sitting in California counting down the hours until our departure. It seems that we're at 48.... Errands to run, meetings to be had, final touches being added and then we're off! Sunday, the 22nd, around noon (Pacific time) we will begin our journey across the border.

So back to the beginning, our family is headed into what the world says right now is "foolish" but we know that life awaits us there. Mexico has been given to us and God has made the way. From the first day Mexico came to our hearts, we've had a green light. It seemed at every turn the enemy of our souls was there to attack us but God saw us through every question, doubt and fear. It's amazing how the Word of God puts everything in perspective.

What is it that God is asking you to do? What is the cost? Have you counted it? Is He worth it? Are those you are being asked to be spent for worth it? He says they are. What do you say?