packing up a life

Today my sister came over and we packed up the hutch, the place to display all the things with sentimental value. We wrapped Mark's grandma's china in newspaper and reminisced about other pieces from our beloved Nana. i gathered together souvenirs from other mission trips. After packing 4 boxes to pass to another generation, and more boxes loaded for the pending yard sale, my sister headed home and i wandered outside to welcome the evening air.

While watching the sunset reflect off the mountains, i tried to relate my past to the future. i realized how little i knew about my ancestors. i thought about how little my children know about their birth families. i connected all this to the calling. We're going to live among children who are truly abandoned at birth. Attachments severed before they even had opportunity to emerge.

i'm wondering what we have to offer them?

i'm praying we help nurture them to know their heavenly Father who will never leave or forsake them.

i'm believing they will be given families who will embrace their futures and provide for them a sense of belonging.

i'm packing up a life here to unpack destinies in Kenya.

Taleah surrounded by our suitcases in our small room during our first month long visit to Kenya.

how then do we serve?

In 51 days we leave our sweet home nestled in a small mountain town for the unfamiliar poverty of friends who live in Kisumu, Kenya. These friends expect better times to come and serve each other with whatever blessing God placed in their hands. i like to think we could do the same.

i'm going to live in Kenya, East Africa as a disabled wife, mom, woman. Do i believe for healing? Of course. i look to Him everyday to restore my body; but, should i wait for that before i go to be among those who are disenfranchised, fatherless and without resources in a country overwrought with corruption and disease? After getting the doctor's okay and counsel from the wise, i don't think He's telling me to wait. If fact, i see how much i can offer, inspite of what i can't do. A successful financial advisor recently encouraged me with these words, "God doesn't call the qualified. He qualifies the called."

And so, without the ability to dress myself, provide for my personal care, to stand by myself or lift my arms away from my body, i'm preparing to go. With the help of those who believe God works through weakness and are not ashamed of my lack, i'm moving to a place far beyond my own significant inconveniences. i'm anticipating how God will remove the insulating comforts of this everyday life and immerse us into a culture where "being different" is our commonality.

Yet, isn't that what God calls us to? Are we not enlisted as servants of the Most High, regardless of our circumstances? Should i stay secure in the boundaries of my control and predictions? Or, should i journey into the great unknown, being certain that in losing my life, i'm destine to find the one God has ordained?

For me, it's a humbling privilege to be called to serve. Regardless of past experiences or current situations that could easily culminate into valid excuses, God wants me. i'll not serve on condition of receiving a promise. by His grace, i'll serve according to His Word, according to His call.

"Lord, let my life move in the rhythms of relationships inspired by grace, created for Your glory. 

Bring the light of Your Love into dark, overwhelming places. Show us how to serve You the way You must be served. Help us serve others in purity and truth."