Tomorrow, I'm flying to Atlanta. Then to Scotland.
Really, I'm going. Wow. God is so good as all of these plans have come together. I'm in awe to have seen everything fit together so masterfully. My God is so perfect in how he so puts everything together. He has planned everything from the beginning. He has seen it all from the beginning of time and ordered everything that is too follow. His plan is perfect. I can not even begin to think that I could have done it any better...because I wouldn't have been able to do it.
As much unknown as there is in the two months ahead of me, I know that I'll be okay. I know there is protection and I know there is a plan.
I know there are difficult times ahead; not everything that will happen will be easy and there will be struggles. As I'm looking ahead though, I know that there is no place for fear. I do not walk alone in this journey. I stand guarded by Christ. I am protected. What peace there is in that!
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My week is looking just like this:
Tomorrow morning, early, I fly from Little Rock to Atlanta.
In Atlanta, MTW interns will be traveling to a site for pre-field training until June 1. Pre-field training looks like a time of preparing interns for cross-cultural ministering. We'll be worshipping together, getting to know one another, and participating in some team building exercises.
I'll be in Atlanta until June 1, at which point we will fly from Atlanta to Glasgow, Scotland. Once there my team will be traveling by either bus or train to Lochalsh, Scotland to begin my internship.
*This will more than likely be my last blog post state-side.
Prayer Requests:
-Safety in our travels.
-That our luggage gets where it's supposed to go and not elsewhere.
-Continue to pray for money to come in for some of the interns.
-Pray that we wouldn't be exhausted as we travel. I am already tired as I'm packing and getting excited.
-Finally, that our hearts would be preparing for our serving these people. Pray for us to be ready and for God to use us.
Monday, May 28, 2012
Friday, May 25, 2012
Going!
God is faithful. He is good.
Today I received an email saying that my visa has been issued!
I'm officially leaving. I'm actually going to Scotland.
4 days
Today I received an email saying that my visa has been issued!
I'm officially leaving. I'm actually going to Scotland.
4 days
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Life Goes On
The world continues to rotate.
The sun is shining.
Everything's as it should be.
Visa's for all of the interns are going as planned. Every single one of us has appropriate dates for our biometric appointments. All of us have been able to scramble and gather the money needed for these, and all of us are wanting to go for this.
God has been so good.
I've been amazed sitting back and watching all of this happen in what feels like slow motion. I've been praying continuously for this situation. God is answering those prayers. I'm standing amazed...seeing God move and work is incredible.
In the midst of all of this I've experienced so many people praying for me. Not just hearing about someone praying for me, but being with people and having them pray for me and for the people I will be with, and this entire situation. I have been so blessed by this. It is a blessed thing to hear the petitions of His people...to hear them cry out to God on your behalf. How beautiful a thing!
I am so blessed and encouraged throughout this process. I am so thankful for all that has happened, both the easy and the difficult. I have learned so much and grown in my faith so much even now.
Praise God for all He does!
The sun is shining.
Everything's as it should be.
Visa's for all of the interns are going as planned. Every single one of us has appropriate dates for our biometric appointments. All of us have been able to scramble and gather the money needed for these, and all of us are wanting to go for this.
God has been so good.
I've been amazed sitting back and watching all of this happen in what feels like slow motion. I've been praying continuously for this situation. God is answering those prayers. I'm standing amazed...seeing God move and work is incredible.
In the midst of all of this I've experienced so many people praying for me. Not just hearing about someone praying for me, but being with people and having them pray for me and for the people I will be with, and this entire situation. I have been so blessed by this. It is a blessed thing to hear the petitions of His people...to hear them cry out to God on your behalf. How beautiful a thing!
I am so blessed and encouraged throughout this process. I am so thankful for all that has happened, both the easy and the difficult. I have learned so much and grown in my faith so much even now.
Praise God for all He does!
Saturday, May 19, 2012
The Seemingly Impossible
Ten days from now I'll be on a plane, Lord willing. I'll be flying from Little Rock to Atlanta for a couple days of pre-field training. Then I'll be flying from Atlanta to Glasgow, Scotland.
Lord willing.
sigh
A bump was thrown into this process. Yesterday, eleven days before all of us Scotland interns are supposed to be at pre-field, we had a sporadic conference call in which we all had to participate. Honestly, I had been feeling like all of this was going all to easily; not that I wasn't thankful for the smoothness of it, but usually something happens that throws off everything. That's exactly what happened.
All of us are listening in on this conference call, and hearing the same thing. "Everyone traveling to Scotland this summer needs to have a Visa." The teams working at MTW found out that suddenly that the interns needed Visa's in the last couple days and have tirelessly been checking to see if all of this would even be possible at this point.
We interns sat and listened to all that was explained to us, the risks, the money that would have to be spent, and all the time that would have to go into getting this going now...right before leaving. We have less than a week to complete the Visa application, come up with close to $500, and make an appointment to be fingerprinted, which apparently is really difficult to do and quite a few of us have a ways to travel to do it.
We're told all of this on Friday in the afternoon. We need to have our application filled out basically, yesterday. All of us have to have our fingerprinting appointment schedule before May 24, and we can only book the appointment after filling out the application. All of us interns are college-aged, and have been away this week traveling and all of a sudden we're having to get to computers ASAP to do all of this. Literally scrambling to make this happen. I, personally, was in a 15 passenger van full of 17 and 18 year olds driving home from being at the beach on this phone call hearing this news.
I felt like I had been punched in the face. Hard.
I think almost everything that has escaped my mouth in regards to the Visa and Scotland has been some form of a prayer. Already, I've seen some prayers answered. I've been able to fill out my application, make my appointment for before the 24th, and have had the money to pay for it.
It's still so crazy to wrap my mind around this. I don't understand why this has happened, and I know the teams working at MTW are as confused as we are; but I also am seeing God move and work in this, and I am at peace. Peace.
God is good.
Please be praying for all of us interns as we work through this. Pray that God would move mountains, and that we would be filled with peace. Pray we trust entirely in Him and watch as He works. Please, pray for all the people at MTW who are woking around the clock to make things happen.
Monday, May 7, 2012
The Fire
I've felt quite weary as of late. Not just emotionally, but very much in a physical sense. My heart has been aching at the thought of leaving so many people who I care so deeply for, and who care for me. I have never been good at saying "good-bye's" and have been dreading them so much. My body has been giving me such problems. So much pain has been wrecking me...pain that's coming with no warning and with no reason. I've been kept up late at night crying out asking for relief, asking God to do something.
Much of me has been wanting to just have the calm, to not walk through life with so much pain and so much hurt. Really what I'm desiring when I ask for the calm, is to not be stretched; I'm not wanting God to allow things to happen in my life that are painful. I'm not wanting Him to work and to move and to change me. That's really what I'm asking when I desire the calm.
I sat with a woman this week, and fellowshipped with her in her home. It's was a wonderful time of fellowship and encouragement. We both talked about the things we have walked through in our lives recently. Not the easy, but the painful. We shared with one another the hardships, the difficulties, the strains that have occurred. We then shared the ways God has worked through all those situations. The way He has moved and changed things, the way He reveals Himself to us in a very different way, and how much deeper we grow in our relationship with Him, our Father. We became thankful. Thankful for the pain and hurt, thankful that we were just a little bit closer to our Abba. We've come to know Him in a way that we wouldn't have if we had not just walked through that fire.
The fire refines us. God reveals Himself to us in a very different way when we are walking through that fire. We see some new part of Him or understand something we didn't before.
As difficult as it is, I'm growing and learning to be thankful for that fire. I am learning to be thankful for trials. My heart desires to know God more and more; I want my heart to look like His heart. At times, we have to walk through the fire to have that happen.
My prayer, for myself and for you is that we might grow to love God so much more, that we would desire to have His heart, and that we might come to a place where we are thankful in whatever situation we are going through.
Much of me has been wanting to just have the calm, to not walk through life with so much pain and so much hurt. Really what I'm desiring when I ask for the calm, is to not be stretched; I'm not wanting God to allow things to happen in my life that are painful. I'm not wanting Him to work and to move and to change me. That's really what I'm asking when I desire the calm.
I sat with a woman this week, and fellowshipped with her in her home. It's was a wonderful time of fellowship and encouragement. We both talked about the things we have walked through in our lives recently. Not the easy, but the painful. We shared with one another the hardships, the difficulties, the strains that have occurred. We then shared the ways God has worked through all those situations. The way He has moved and changed things, the way He reveals Himself to us in a very different way, and how much deeper we grow in our relationship with Him, our Father. We became thankful. Thankful for the pain and hurt, thankful that we were just a little bit closer to our Abba. We've come to know Him in a way that we wouldn't have if we had not just walked through that fire.
The fire refines us. God reveals Himself to us in a very different way when we are walking through that fire. We see some new part of Him or understand something we didn't before.
As difficult as it is, I'm growing and learning to be thankful for that fire. I am learning to be thankful for trials. My heart desires to know God more and more; I want my heart to look like His heart. At times, we have to walk through the fire to have that happen.
My prayer, for myself and for you is that we might grow to love God so much more, that we would desire to have His heart, and that we might come to a place where we are thankful in whatever situation we are going through.
Friday, May 4, 2012
Falling Into Place
Everything is coming together. Pieces are falling into place. Details are being worked out.
This adventure of mine is falling into place.
I'm going to be at my Pre-Field training in about 25 days. I'll be in Scotland in 28 days. Wow. I really didn't think it would happen so soon...it seemed forever ago when this was even a possibility floating around and being considered.
Pre-Field Training is going to be so good. Pre-Field Training is something put together by MTW for their summer interns. Interns are able to come together before going onto their field for a time of getting to know one another; participate in some team building; and prepare spiritually, mentally, and emotionally for our time away.
I'm so encouraged knowing that I have this to go to before being thrown into a new situation. MTW is setting me, and the other interns up for success. We've been given all the tools to succeed.
God will do incredible things. He's already preparing our hearts--praise be for that!
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Prayer Requests for right now:
1. Pray for the mentors of our team. Pray for them as they work alongside us interns.
2. Pray for my team, that my teammates would finish raising support and begin preparing for our time in Lochalsh.
3. Pray for the people we will be serving; for their hearts.
4. Pray for our team, and the words that we speak. May God speak through us.
5. Pray that God will be glorified.
6. Finally, please be praying for me as I begin this whirl-wind of a month. Graduation, Senior Trip, preparations, and good-byes. Pray for endurance. Pray that I would wise with my time and that I would know when to rest and take time for myself.
This adventure of mine is falling into place.
I'm going to be at my Pre-Field training in about 25 days. I'll be in Scotland in 28 days. Wow. I really didn't think it would happen so soon...it seemed forever ago when this was even a possibility floating around and being considered.
Pre-Field Training is going to be so good. Pre-Field Training is something put together by MTW for their summer interns. Interns are able to come together before going onto their field for a time of getting to know one another; participate in some team building; and prepare spiritually, mentally, and emotionally for our time away.
I'm so encouraged knowing that I have this to go to before being thrown into a new situation. MTW is setting me, and the other interns up for success. We've been given all the tools to succeed.
God will do incredible things. He's already preparing our hearts--praise be for that!
***************************************************
Prayer Requests for right now:
1. Pray for the mentors of our team. Pray for them as they work alongside us interns.
2. Pray for my team, that my teammates would finish raising support and begin preparing for our time in Lochalsh.
3. Pray for the people we will be serving; for their hearts.
4. Pray for our team, and the words that we speak. May God speak through us.
5. Pray that God will be glorified.
6. Finally, please be praying for me as I begin this whirl-wind of a month. Graduation, Senior Trip, preparations, and good-byes. Pray for endurance. Pray that I would wise with my time and that I would know when to rest and take time for myself.
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