For I Know the Plans I Have for You says the Lord... Part 1

This post has been on my heart for a while now...I have wanted to share some of the things that the Lord has put in our family's heart.  God gave me a heart for the lost and hurting many, many years ago.  My heart has cried out to to go to the mission field for as long as I have truly walked with Jesus.  To serve God, to share the love of Jesus Christ and His free gift of salvation with those who do not know Him.  To minister to the orphaned and to the broken.
I have had a burden in my heart for the peoples of Russia, China, Haiti and Africa.  A love for them that is far bigger than I.  How amazing it is, and how blessed I am that our beloved children come from two of those places on earth.  Shortly after Hannah came home, I felt the Lord leading my heart to China.  I wrestled with Him over the idea of our family moving into the mission field.  Although my spirit cries out to share the Good News of Jesus Christ, my flesh tries to cripple this heart's desire through fear.  After probably close to a year, I said, "Yes."  Then the Lord showed me Africa... "Ok, Lord, You know I love the people of Africa.  I believe we have children there as well.... I will go on short mission trips there, but I won't take my babies there Jesus.  They have mosquitoes that KILL Lord.... How could I take my children to such a dangerous place?!!!"  After telling God this, I then added, "Ok, if You truly are calling our family there,  You will have to hit me over the head with a frying pan to make it that clear that it is what YOU want!".... After wrestling with Him for quite some time, He gently brought me to a place where I bowed down, submitted to Him, and said... "Yes, Lord.... if You want our family to serve You in Africa, then we shall go... I realize that there is a possibility that we may not all live to tell about it.  But, I know that You will not allow more than what we can endure through You.  If something terrible happens Lord, YOU will have to get us through it and to God be the glory!"
You have to realize that to me, Africa is one of the most beloved places on the earth, but it is also one of the most difficult places on the earth.  There have been times since I have told the Lord, "yes", that I wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat.  Feeling a sense of panic over what I have done.  Then I realize we have not even left for the mission field yet and that this fear that threatens to paralyze me is from the enemy of God trying to do just that.... paralyze me.
As I am taking this journey around the world with the Lord, my husband had not yet conceded to this plan.  He thought I was a little crazy... that we could and should be serving God right where we live now.  (This is true... but He also has commanded the Great Commission and He does call us to the ends of the earth to share Jesus with those who do not know Him.)
Well, about this time, the Lord calls my husband, Jeremy on a mission trip with our church to Peru.  I was so excited and thankful and yet, I confess, a part of me was baffled... "Lord, You gave ME a heart for missions and now You are sending Jeremy into the field first???"  I find it so amazing  that at times I think myself so wise as to question the ways, the plans of God...  "Forgive me Father God for questioning You."  As I was fleshing out over my husband going and not myself, the Lord revealed to me that not only was He going to use Jeremy in Peru, but that He was going to do a work in his heart, to give him an understanding and a desire for missions.  This is exactly what He did!  My husband came back a changed man.  God had given him a heart and a gift for evangelism.  He wanted to share Jesus with everyone!  Shortly after returning home, he started talking about the mission field and serving the Lord full time.  God had brought our hearts together in one accord to serve Him...
Almost two years later the Lord calls us both to Peru on a mission trip.  I confess that although I have a heart for the lost, I did not feel a "burden" on my heart for the people of Peru... I felt a burden for my two year old daughter in an orphanage in China waiting for her family and for staying home to sew, to make bracelets and to try to raise the funds to get our child HOME!  I felt a burden for my 4 year old daughter who has separation anxiety and had not been apart from her Mama since the day I first held her in my arms on her 10 month birthday.  But, God made it clear that He was calling me to Peru, so I said Yes to Him out of obedience, and reminded the Lord how HE was going to have to provide to get our daughter home to her family and that HE was going to have to watch over my Peep while I was gone.  (Oh, Jesus.... forgive me when I do not trust You completely... YOU are oh, so faithful and do not need ME to remind You of anything!!!)
I had a feeling that God was guarding my heart from feeling His love for the people of Peru so that I could walk in obedience and grow in Him as He stretched my faith.  I also had a feeling that once I landed on Peruvian soil He was going to FLOOD me with His love for the people..... THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT HE DID!  I cannot begin to express the love I carry in my heart for the people of Peru. 
Before we left two or three people said that perhaps Peru was where God was calling our family to serve Him full time.... Although my husband had been alluding to the same idea, I did not think so, but I just smiled and nodded... The first night, as we opened the door to the home where we would be staying, although it was very nice, my senses were assaulted with the smell of mold coming from inside the house.  I just smiled and shook my head as I thought to myself, "No, this is NOT where the Lord is calling us, for I am deathly allergic to mold!"  It was a done deal.  God was not calling our family to Peru.  The entire time we were there I did not have even a sniffle!!!  I did not have any problems with my sinuses at all!  It was a miracle from the Lord and I soon came to realize that He very well may be calling us to Peru after all!
During our trip God gave me my life verses... As our Pastor Dan read from Isaiah 58 one morning to our small group before we set out for the day, I heard the Lord speaking to me... this is my calling, His will for our family...
Isaiah 58:6-12
⁶ “ Is this not the fast that I have chosen:
      To loose the bonds of wickedness,
      To undo the heavy burdens,
      To let the oppressed go free,
      And that you break every yoke?
       ⁷ Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
      And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out;
      When you see the naked, that you cover him,
      And not hide yourself from your own flesh?
       ⁸ Then your light shall break forth like the morning,
      Your healing shall spring forth speedily,
      And your righteousness shall go before you;
      The glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
       ⁹ Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer;
      You shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’

      “ If you take away the yoke from your midst,
      The pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
       ¹⁰ If you extend your soul to the hungry
      And satisfy the afflicted soul,
      Then your light shall dawn in the darkness,
      And your darkness shall be as the noonday.
       ¹¹ The LORD will guide you continually,
      And satisfy your soul in drought,
      And strengthen your bones;
      You shall be like a watered garden,
      And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.
       ¹² Those from among you
      Shall build the old waste places;
      You shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
      And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach,
      The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.
     
Then He took us to the town of Lurin...

Jeremy had been there on the last mission trip... he tried to tell me of this town... of Pastor Javier, of the children,  of the people, of the town...  But it was something I had to experience for myself.  There were several things that led us to believe that this was where God was calling us to serve Him.  Such as God had given Javier the same verses in Isaiah when He was calling him to move and serve as a Pastor in Lurin.   I left a part of my heart in Lurin...


When Jeremy was being flown in to the Augusta Burn Center and the kids and I were being driven there by a precious sister in Christ Jesus.  I knew that Jeremy was not going to die because the Lord kept telling me that this was all part of His plan to get our family into the mission field.  That He had given my husband the gift of evangelism and that He still had work to do through Jeremy here on earth.  It was such a blessing to carry that knowledge in my heart and spirit as the doctors were not certain if my husband was going to live or die.... God gave me the certainty that he was going to live.
Thank You for such a gracious gift and thank You for saving my husband's life Father, God!

We have been preparing, growing in the Lord, serving Him here where we are now, waiting for Him to open the door for us to go.... I have been wanting to share these plans with you for a while... thinking that it was indeed Peru that the Lord was calling us to.  Over the last month doors are opening to serve in a ministry in Honduras, on the island of Roatan just 30 miles off the mainland.  It is certain that He is calling our dear friends there which is so exciting because this is a family where the wife was ready to sell everything and move to Peru to serve God but the husband wanted to do mission TRIPS only!  Then through a series of Divine appointments, God has given him a heart to pack up and leave!  Woohooo to God be the glory!  This family believes the Lord is calling our family there as well..... wouldn't it be just like our amazing, gift giving God to do just that.  ( I had always dreamed of going to a tropical island.... but the last year I gave up that idea knowing that if we ever had the money to take a vacation to somewhere tropical that it would instead be spent on sending us on a mission trip to serve the Lord, or to spend time with my family in California.... So I had given the tropical island with the aqua waters I have always dreamed of seeing to Him. )  For now, Jeremy has peace about us going there.  He feels the Lord is calling us to Roatan as a stepping stone to Peru or somewhere else.  We do not know for certain yet.... we may go there, or God may lead us somewhere else..... I am thankful that the Lord has brought me to a place that I am willing to say, "Yes, Lord." to where ever He calls us....
for now we are preparing and growing in our walks with Him so that we may live our lives in a manner that is worthy of the gospel... our heart's desire is to please Him, to serve Him and to share Him with those who do not know Him and to minister to those who do!
Hopefully we will be leaving sometime in the spring or early summer.
Have Thine Own way Lord.... Have Thine Own way....



The Lord has called me to Russia in January on a 10 day mission trip.  I want to thank Him for providing the first deposit on that was due on the 25th!  Thank you to all of you who have prayed, ordered a skirt, and or donated.  What a blessing you are and an answer to prayer!!!   I am trusting Him to provide the rest that is needed for me to be used by Him in Russia.  Please continue to lift up this trip and the people there in your prayers.  If the Lord puts it on your heart to help serve as a sender please make a donation of any amount He is asking through the paypal button below.
Thank you all and God's blessings....





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