The Journey Begins

This is us. This is our truck and "house on wheels." This is us right before we left sometime mid-August for a trip that will eventually take us to California and back. An adventure-packed vacation, you might ask? Well, in part, yes. But ultimately we have the privilege and opportunity to travel to different parts of the country to share the precious gospel of Jesus Christ with those who may have never heard. We started on this journey in the spring, only we didn't pull our "house on wheels" behind us. We are so thankful now to have a little piece of home and familiarity as we trek from state to state. (You will understand fully what I mean if you have children :-)

Maybe you can imagine what it might be like to pack up your belongings and family to be "out-of-town" for an extended period of time. If you are like me, that brings with it many mixed emotions. At first I am so excited to be going somewhere, seeing something new, meeting new people (not to mention the break I get from having to cook meals). But then I realize that every week everything will be different. I won't know what to expect. I will miss my family, friends and church...my grocery stores, library and house. I will miss the constancy that I am so used to. Then comes the fear of venturing out into the unknown, away from home, especially with being in my 2nd trimester of pregnancy. So, as you can see, at least in my book, it is not always that easy to pack up and leave in order to serve the Lord. (Well, it may be for my husband. Just give him a place to sleep, eat and shower and he's fine!)

I have been very hesitant to write anything about what has been going on in my life during the transition, preparation and carrying out of our new ministry. But as I have been reading about the life and ministry of Jonathan Goforth and his wife Rosalind, I realized that missionaries are normal people that struggle just as much with fleshly battles as any other Christian. Just because your occupation is "missionary" it doesn't automatically set you on a spiritual plain higher than every day battles. I long to have a desire to serve the Lord wherever He has called us with gladness and selflessness and to see the needs of the lost around me as greater than my "creature comforts." So, I would love to share with you all that the Lord has been teaching me along our journey to conform me to the image of His Son.

How exciting it is to think that God places different things in each of our lives as we journey toward Heaven to make each of us more like Jesus Christ!