God's Amazing Plan: Part Two

So, part two is here! The big exciting news is only a few paragraphs away. :) I wonder what most of you thought the big news was...I wonder how many of you will have been right?!? I will say it has absolutely nothing to do with another baby. Yes, I have gained a little weight lately but that is from a "cookie complex"...yes, a topic for another day. So, what is this big news? Let me go back a little bit.

A few months after Carson was born I really struggled with what God had planned for my life. I was a stay at home mom for the first time in my life and I had NO idea what to do. I wanted to go back to work really bad, but God kept closing the doors. I knew God wanted me at home but I was fighting Him. When I finally realized it would do no good to fight, I took up the stay at home mom role and actually enjoyed it! During that time I prayed for God to reveal his bigger plan to me because I knew staying at home was not my life long call. So, the doors began to open and I enrolled in graduate school and began that adventure this past August. Just before classes began in August, I felt God calling me into ministry. Now, let me clarify...I have NO idea what being called into ministry looked like (and still do not know what that means for me long term). I didn't share that with anyone because I thought how crazy it sounded....me? called into ministry? I'm not fit to be a pastor. My friends will think I'm crazy! What kind of ministry? Where? How? So, so, so many questions. Most of which I still do not have an answer for. I know getting my graduate degree will help me with whatever God has planned but I honestly have no idea where He will take me and my family. It's actually really exciting!

Fast forward to early September... I woke up one morning and told Jeremy that I felt led to go on a mission trip to Africa. I think my husband thought I was crazy. He just said "yeah, that sounds like fun. Maybe you can go in a few years". A few weeks ago at our church's 5 year anniversary service, we learned that a couple was leading a team and going to Africa THIS coming summer. We met that particular couple at family bible camp last summer and I contacted them the next week for more information. Have you figured it out yet?!

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying

"who shall I send? And who will go for us?"

and I said "here I am! Send me!"

Isaiah 6:8

The BIG news...
I'm going to Kitwe, Zambia in Africa this summer on a mission trip with our church! I could not be more excited. I have prayed about it, had close friends and family pray about it, and have the blessing of my family. God's timing is amazing, truly amazing. Now, I have no idea where the money to go will come from and I'm really nervous about flying and going without Jeremy BUT I know this is God's plan. It's amazing to look back over the last year and see that God has placed the right people in my life at just the right times and I'm SO thankful for all of those doors he closed for me.

I hope that each of you reading my blog will begin to pray for me and the rest of the team going to Africa. I ask you to pray that over the next 7 months we will become adequately prepared for the work we will be doing, that the money for the trip be provided, and that each one of us would grow in our faith beyond what we ever imagined. I am looking forward to sharing this journey with each of you! Are you excited yet?

This is a picture from the mission trip to Zambia that our leaders went on this past April!