Mission POSSIBLE!

Getting prepared for a mission trip takes a lot of time. As many times as I've been to Nicaragua, you'd think I'd have it down to a science but I don't. Between the flashlights, rainboots, bugspray, tent, camping supplies, shower light, fan, batteries, etc., that I have to take....there is the fact that I'm supposed to be packing light at the same time!? Somehow, by the grace of God...(and a few mission friends carrying some of my stuff in their bags), I haven't gotten charged an overweight fee yet!

But as much preparation as it takes on the physical side, that's nothing compared to the preparation it takes, spiritually. I knew, especially this year, since I was going to be sharing the gospel with teenage girls 4 services a day, I needed to be FILLED and on my game! I spent more time in prayer, in the word, and just enjoyed being in God's presence more. I prayed for the girls who I hadn't met yet, that the Holy Spirit would start preparing them in advance. I prayed for God to use me in a mighty way in spite of my shortcomings. I prayed Ephesians 3:20 fervently--"NOW GLORY BE TO GOD! BY HIS MIGHTY POWER AT WORK WITHIN US, HE IS ABLE TO ACCOMPLISH INFINITELY MORE THAN WE WOULD EVER DARE TO ASK OR HOPE."(NLT)

I love that verse, and I believe it with all my heart. I know my God is ABLE...I know with my God, NOTHING is impossible...but when I got a front row seat to watch Him in action...wow, there were no words to describe it. Somehow God took my stumbling words and He spoke to their hearts. God showed me it's not the words you say, but the TRUTH behind them....it's not eloquent speaking, but the Holy Spirit moving....it's not me...IT'S ALL HIM!!

God allowed me the privilige of leading 37 girls into a relationship with Him. Although it's not about the numbers, that is definitely more than I dared to ask or hope for...I was blown away! He didn't NEED me to do any of this, but ALLOWED me be a part of it to show me something bigger. He is "accomplishing infinitely more" within my own heart...He is showing me that my experience didn't happen just to make a good mission trip story or journal entry or blog post. That kind of thing doesn't just happen in Nicaragua. That was just God's way of getting my attention and showing me that I need to stay focused on Him and willing to be used by Him in the mission field of my everyday life.
~Why not prepare my heart DAILY like I did before that trip?
~What if I looked for opportunities to share the love of Christ
even during my mundane day to day activities?
~What if I focused more on Jesus than MYSELF??
I guess that's what Jesus meant when He said, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me"(Luke 9:23-NIV).

What God showed me most, was how to be more intentional in my witness and in my relationship with Him...every day.I just had to go to Nicaragua to figure out how to be a missionary in my own back yard...funny how God works.

Ordinary me....Extraordinary God!

This past June I went on my 6th mission trip to Nicaragua and I must say, it was my best one yet! It has taken me awhile to process everything that God allowed me to be a part of, and so It may take me a few blog posts to explain it all....

To do that, I have to start at the beginning....my first trip, June 2007. Although this mission with BMDMI is a medical/dental trip, I was allowed to use my profession as a hairstylist to do ministry. It was a great blessing for me to do so since most of the women and girls had never had a haircut unless they did it themselves, much less a professional hairstyle! Any woman (and some men) will agree that nothing makes you feel better than being pampered and loving how your hair looks. So for 4 years, this was my offering to this mission--haircuts. But looking back, I see that God was up to so much more because the experiences I had then, led up to what I did on this year's mission trip. You see, every year I would have some young girls who would come around every day to see me. They would sit with me in the evening worship services, they would come to my room at night after the clinics closed down. We would paint nails and communicate the best we could with the language barrier, which was mostly through music. One year I even had the privilige of leading 2 of these girls to Christ. I was doing more than haircuts...I was connecting with these girls and showing them God's love...and God had a plan how He was going to use this to grow my faith and give me a new ministry.

During one of our meetings before this year's trip, our leader asked the team to be praying for God to raise up a leader for the youth girls. We had a male youth leader for the boys already, but didn't have a woman to teach the girls. The youth are split up because the main message is about growing up, sexual purity, and honoring God in their dating relationships as well as how to have a relationship with Christ. This is a huge job, and of course we needed someone to go on the trip who was trained in leading young women--we needed someone who was a counselor or on staff at a church as a youth leader....right?? In fact, that is how my prayers went as I was asking God for this woman to join our team....I told God what credentials she needed and for Him to touch her heart and get her on our team, we needed her!

God did answer my prayer....He did touch her heart...He let her know with certainty SHE was the one He would use for this job. Imagine my surprise when I realized it was me. ME? Really?? Instead of assuming I "heard" wrong or questioning God's decision making skills, I said YES and I was sooo excited!! I knew since He called me to do it, He would equip me to do it. Knowing all the stories in the bible of God using the most ordinary people to do the most extraordinary things, I knew that He would be all the more glorified with ME in this role and I was ready to watch Him work!

That was the beginning of an awesome faith building experience for me. It started with listening to God's call and being willing to follow through....not focusing on my weakness but on HIS POWER!

....and wait until you hear what happened next....