The freezer is stocked. Casseroles and quick meals enough to make pizza more of an entertaining outing than a necessity.
The laundry is on its way…to fill their closets and my suitcase.
School assignments are typed up and ready to be completed.
My dining room table is filled with things for women and for orphans and for a long trek from here to there. I just have to pack it all.
One of the kids has a fever.
The babysitting schedule is yet to be complete.
The floor needs mopping.
The beds need making.
And, I need as much faith and courage as I can muster to be gone from my family for a week or so.
My babies are starting to wonder why I keep hugging them.
Because I can do my best to prepare food, clothes, and entertainment for them, and I can fill my days away to the very brim….
But, how do you prepare the heart? Yours or theirs?
Trust. Faith. Without it, I crumble in fear. I succumb to worry and doubt.
The last time I went to Kenya, my babies started walking. Without me. The first tentative steps turned to full-fledged walking, and I was a world away.
I’m over that, can you tell?
I was praying yesterday for Kaitlyn, as her journey to Haiti comes to an end, and I prayed that God would give her peace that though she would soon be leaving the people there, he would not, that she would know she can leave them in his hands and with his heart, knowing that though he goes with her, he also stays with them.
Today, that prayer rises from this heart of mine, seeking assurance from the One who both goes and stays, the prayer of the Psalmist:
“O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord. You hem me in – behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn and settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.”
(Psalm 139:1-10)
Pray for us, will you? I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it.
Praying for you! So thankful that He goes before you as you go!!!
Praying God uses you mightily and will be near to your family while you are gone.