The Week My Life Changed Forever

As I sit here, sweat dripping down my temple, wondering if the (scheduled) impending day-long power outage is really going to happen tomorrow, I cannot help but smile.  You see, this is the week my life changed forever.  It's kind of humorous because I was more of a passive participant.  Five years ago, I sat at home in Phoenix with a swollen belly and an active two year old.  My husband, however, was in La Ceiba, Honduras, for the first time as a member of our church's short term missions team. His intent was to catch up with our missionary friends, Mike and Ashley Troxell, whom would soon be living and serving there.  Adam wanted to catch a vision of how we could support, serve, and pray for them better.  I teased him relentlessly about going just to see them but quietly prayed the Lord would work on my husband.  That Adam would return and tell me that the Lord had called us to overseas missions. Long story short, that's what happened.  Before Adam even left US soil, he knew the Lord was calling us to something different than our comfortable, complacent life in Arizona.

Adam and Ashley making bracelets with some boys during VBS

This new life is anything but what I expected.  It's easy to romanticize or glamorize something you long for only to be surprised by reality.  I recently read the story of how the Israelites crossed the Jordan River into the Promised Land and immediately set up stones of remembrance.  Joshua told them to look upon the stones and tell their children the stories of God's faithfulness.  There are so many things in the last five years that I always want to remember.  So many happenings where I can only give God the glory for his faithfulness.  

Here's a few of our ebeneezers to satisfy your piqued curiosity:

-The Lord put us on a plane to Atlanta with a 4 week old baby and a two year old when we should have missed the plane and a training that wasn't available for another 4 months. Read about it here.

-The Lord raised one hundred percent of our support in 7 short months.  He proved to us over and over again that He had hand picked our supporters regardless of who we thought would be part of our support team.  He also taught us that it was not our presentation, our plan for ministry, or anything we did or said that raised the support.  It was Him.

-He guided us through a year of transition in our first foreign country as a family.  He guided us through a new language.  He taught us to love another culture, people, and nation.  He taught us that He is the King of Kings over all creation; the same in every language. Read about it here.

-The Lord has put a hedge around us and protected us for all these years.  It started with a burglary the day we landed in Honduras.  He taught us not to live in fear but be vigilant.  Here's our welcome to Honduras.

-He taught us that lots of His blessings come through challenges, suffering, and sacrifices.  We know Christ better through things that are hard, knowing He has experienced our temptations and pain.  My summation of 2014 is still true today.

I look back on the last five years with gratitude of how our family has changed and learned more of who Christ is and how to love others.  I look forward to what Christ has in store for the next five years.

Jacob sporting "La H" 5 years ago!