As I prepare for the race these are a few things I wanted to share that God has been talking to me about and showing me!
Realizations
1. I recently realized that to the people back home following my journey its one long mission trip but to those we will be spending time with it’s more of a short term mission trip. (IDK how I missed that)*shrug
2. I also realized that I am a fix it/visionary person. I am able to see the potential in people and situations. I am able to look at a broken situation and see the potential. Yet I can find myself discouraged when that potential in my understanding isn’t coming to pass the way I expected and within the time I expected. Smh lol
Questions/Answers
1. Because I am doing 11 short mission trips how do I go to these different countries and be the most effective? How do I NOT go in with the mind set of “we are Americans and we are here to fix you and make you better?” How do I change my perspective from viewing the people we meet as a “mission field” to seeing them as God’s children?
A: God said let to let my main focus at all times be to love people. Yes I am there to spread the Gospel and pray people will receive Christ yet to do that I am to love with a pure heart and no with an agenda. Let Christ handle the responsibility of salvation and I worry about love my neighbors as I love myself. Not trying to force anything on anyone.
2. Because I am a fix it/visionary person how do not take on the burden of the situations I see. How do I allow myself to encourage people in their situations or how do I allow myself to see the potential/beauty in a broken situation without taken on the emotional burden as if it were up to me to fix it?
A: John 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them will produce much fruit. From apart from me you can do nothing.” So remembering that even in my best efforts I can do nothing without Christ. I must trust God with the situations of brokenness I encounter.
3. Because we are there to share the Gospel and love of Jesus what happens when we meet people that don’t feel they need Jesus. There life is going well; they are seemingly happy and full so there is no need?
A: Keep loving and keep praying and trusting God for that person’s salvation.
4. What is our role when we meet people who already have Christ?
A: Just like when Paul visited different churches and encouraged them in their faith. He prayed with them and fellowshipped with and loved them. We are to do the same.
5. As I mentioned in my About me one of my favorite pieces of Scripture is Isaiah 61:1-3 (please read it). A friend had given me a gift last year with a drawing of Africa and those verses and it was as if through that God was showing me my purpose. And since then He has continued to confirm that. So this week I asked God “How am I supposed to do all of that, how do I do Isaiah 61?”
A: He brought the fruits of the Spirit to mind: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
I am to be loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle and self controlling towards others. I’m thankful that God doesn’t leave me to my own strength because I would utterly fail in this, there is absolutely no way I can be these things towards others without him.
Expectations:
1. I expect my faith to grow leaps and bounds. Yes I expect to see crazy insane miracles by God but miracles can’t sustain you, faith can!!
2. I expect to be stretched, broken, pushed beyond my limits and my own comforts. This truly freaks me out but I know it will be so worth it.
3.I expect/desire to really see Gods love and presence in a whole new way!
4. I expect to be reminded and constantly come back to the realization that this isn’t about me. It’s wayyyy bigger than me.
5. I expect this to be nothing like I expect it to be.
Main desire and overall conclusion
?My hope in this trip is for my faith in who Christ is to grow. I hope to get a bigger picture/vision of the Gospel, that God is truly the God of the whole world, not just America. I desire to be able to see Christ and beauty even in the midst of poverty and hard situations. I know the golden question is “Where is God in this mess?” So praying God would give me eyes to see things I didn’t see before and that I would be able to see Him in the broken.
Yes I am going to different countries to share the love of Christ but this week God just reminded to not stress out about what a missionary means and to not allow that title to cause me to stress out. Just keep doing what I am doing now in America. To be the same person I am here, to just spend time with people getting to know them, listening to, loving and encouraging them. To pray for people as I do here and trust the Holy spirit to do His job. #nostress!
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How you can help!
There are lots of ways you can help me on this journey.
PRAY!!!
-Pray is always first and the most important thing.
-Please pray for my team and I as we prepare in every way to go on this journey.
-Pray for the places we will be going
-Pray for our families
Another way you can help is by donating
Donating by Check
If you are interested in donating by check please email me ([email protected]) and I can get you all the information you need.
Donating Online
-A donor may be directed to donate online through a participant’s blog. (Find the SUPPORT ME tab!)
-Online donations by credit/debit card will be subject to a 3% processing fee. Bank drafts will be subject to a 2% processing fee.
-Online donations can take 3-5 days to process.
-A donor may set up a reoccurring donation through this option. The donor will be prompted to select a start date and an end date for their donations. The donations will automatically stop at the end date, if one is selected. (If you do a recurring donation, you will need to stop the donation by the 6th month that I am on the race, so by February 2015)
Donating with Dynapay
-Dynapay is an option for donating through Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT), which allows a donor to set up a monthly donation through the donor’s personal checking account.
–Donors are unable to make a one-time only donation through Dynapay; this is strictly for reoccurring donations.
-A donor can set up their reoccurring donation by going to the following website https://www.adventures.org/dynapay and completing the required fields.
-Donations through Dynapay typically take 1-2 weeks to be processed. Donations are withdrawn from the donor’s account on either the 3rd or the 18th of the month.
-Donors may set up an end date for their reoccurring donations when they set up their initial DynaPay account.
-There is no processing fee charged when using Dynapay.
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Thank you kindly and feel free to ask me any questions.
Kendra
