The Eve of Leaving...

I am leaving in just a few hours for my 2nd mission trip. 

Not tooting my own horn at all.  I will only be gone a meager 8 days.  Not much of a sacrifice...really.

Many people answer God's call to give their entire lives to foreign missions.  I personally even know some folks that travel for months at a time to very dangerous places to plant the truth of God's love.

But this is a sacrifice for me.

And God knows just how much....

I haven't left yet and already home-sickness is plaguing me.  When I tucked my children in tonight I focused on every facet of their faces.  When I see them again they will have grown (ok not much, but some).  Zeke counted on his little 4 year old fingers the number of days I would be gone.  Ava and Caroline held me a little tighter as I did them.  I tucked my nose into the nape of their necks to somehow carry their sleepy scents with me.  But it will fade and pictures will have to do.

I am also resisting the urge to sneak one of Shep's undershirts into my luggage completely doused in his cologne.  Yes, seriously.  I love my man.  Like crazy.  He is my very best friend.  But I realize that this is just me wanting to carry them with me somehow.

Only I can't.

This is the hard part of the commission of God to "go into all the world and preach the gospel."  (Mark 16:15)

I won't be preaching.

I will be teaching, singing, encouraging, and sweating an awful lot.  But all in the name of the One who compels me to go.

Jesus is my joy.
He is my reason for living.
He is the giver of good gifts like hope, faith, peace, contentment, perseverance, kindness, and self-control. 
I trust Him.
I want to honor Him.
I want others to know Him too.

Going to another country to teach little ones about His lavish love is a privilege of the highest kind.  I am praying in advance for many to come to know about Jesus and his grace that saves.

It saved me.
 
I am excited to go.
I am sad to leave.

But Jesus trumps it all!