High Fives!

It is not possible to embark on my Swaziland faith project without the support of many believers. The gifts of grace I have received are investments in this trip, not only financially but also spiritually. Your belief in what God can do in and through me speaks volumes and I humbly say thanks.

My Thankful High Fives go to:

Christy & Eddie Riddle

Pat & Kali Bell

Brandon & Megan Armstrong

Teresa Richmond

Anonymous

My son Shayne

Michael Youso

Brian Hill

Jim & Ronda Martin

The Rupp Family

Bill & Sheila Ford

Ann Steichen

Terry, the hubs

Jennifer Vaughan

Another Anonymous friend

The person who put $40 in my coffee

Lindsay and Billy Bernhardt

and

To all those who will soon give towards this faith project.....

I am deeply moved by your love gifts. Your gifts mean so much already, your prayer support is needed as well. To all those listed I pledge to do my best with God's best to represent the face of Christ.

Your humble servant.

Read More

The Hard Part

When Justin, our trip leader, told me about the trip my heart said yes right away. And I didn't even know the dates or how much it cost. Common sense reigned me in. I started asking questions. I remember texting him and asking,
"Hummm...raising $3000 is the hard part". Is this the hard part?" He replied, "YOU CAN DO THIS!"
I smiled at his confidence in me. But really I hope it was his confidence in God to work through me.

When you dangle an African opportunity in front of my "hungry to serve" eyes and heart, yeah, I am going to bite every time. At least for this time being I will. The only reservation I had was raising the cold hard cash (for the record, I don't plan on finding any of the greenbacks in my freezer or trekking to the North Pole to retrieve it.)

Financial matters have always been a challenge for our family with my hubs' history of medical issues the entire length of our marriage. We literally have lived the "for-better-or-worse-parts" of our vows. And with his current health condition, him being on medical disability with his job and me working for a non-profit ministry, in my mind, raising $3000 was the hard part. God is asking me to trust Him in this.

I set to work and prayed immediately and declared that if God wanted me to go then the funds would come. Reassurance and peace came to my heart. Remember...this is the easy part. God has proved that to be true so far. My funding campaign has reached the half-way mark. And so far God has made it the easy part because He has prompted generous friends to come along side this mission with a purpose trip. I sent out some letters to some mission-minded friends and God has brought surprise after surprise. I am living Ephesians 3:20 that says, "Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us." Just today I had a couple of unexpected gifts from some expectant hearts.

I just can't get over how creative God is. He is blowing my socks off. I have even found $40 cash in my coffee can. Now that's a gift of love and yes, God has made funding the trip easy so far. Swazi or BUST!

P.S. Thank yous to all who have contributed so far are coming in the next post. Read how my awesome friend Andy was blessed with a surprise gift of $500 in one phone call.

Read More

Seeds for Swazi

I have been thinking about going to Africa for a while now. Actually God planted the seeds for this trip on the day I returned from the Dominican Republic. The DR was where God first broke my heart for missions, for the poor among us.

As we were waiting on our final flight home and saying goodbye to some really good friends, I knew then that I would serve with these people again. We were a team after all. Some really close friendships had formed. There is something about adversity that binds people together.

God was busy binding hearts as well. Africa was mentioned at that time and several expressed a desire to go. Now you would expect that kind of conversation on the heels of an action packed week of serving missions to God's precious ones. Some were on a "mission-trip" high and had experienced God in a most unique and deep way. But for me, the missions seeds go way deeper than that a mountain-top experience that lasts only seven days. I am motivated to spread the mission message and that is God at work in my life. He compels me to stay intent on serving on foreign soil.

When the opportunity to travel to Swaziland came up, I knew I didn't what to miss it. I don't want to miss one minute of serving. God had prepared the way in my heart to say yes.

Read More