Right now, I am sitting in a hotel room in Atlanta, Georgia with two amazing young women. I keep thinking about our departure on Monday (I bet you never would have thought that 
). I think about the logistics things I’ve been blessed with the opportunity of helping to plan, the three long days of travel that await us, and the excitement I have for leaving.
About an hour ago, we went through a risk management and crisis management training. Being completely honest, that scared me so much… Just in case you’re wondering, which I’m sure most of you are, the thing I’m most nervous about is being sick or injured in an area with inadequate medical care, so I’m sure you can guess how I’m feeling after that training! I’m learning more and more to lean into the Lord and to trust in His protection and guidance, but I still worry. Despite my immense trust in God’s goodness, I know that the world is a dangerous place and sometimes God’s plan involves discomfort. I suppose He is trying to teach me to trust Him even more than I do now, but that is really hard for me. We are all so excited to get out of Atlanta and be on our way to Swaziland, but I’m also plagued by this anxiety. Ultimately, the Lord is going to move in such amazing ways through the wonderful people here in Georgia and His will is going to be done in the way in which He has prepared, we just need to trust that His was is still good when it looks bad.
Yesterday, I was looking at an email from our ministry host in Swazi. In it, he simply described the transportation that he had generously arranged for us- a totally normal email- and he signed the end of the email with something that really just weighed on my heart. Our host signed the email with this: “Swaziland is waiting for you.”
I had taken the time to think about how excited I am to be doing the Lord’s work in Swazi, but I hadn’t even considered the fact that the beautiful people in Swaziland might not know it, but they are waiting for us. What a responsibility it is to be carry the Lord’s name on our every breath and footstep. What a pleasure it is to be trust by the God of all creation to represent His goodness in all nations. What a joy it is to have the opportunity to bring Kingdom with such an amazing group of Spirit-filled people.
We’ll see you soon, Swazi. We know you’re waiting.
-Laura 9.9.17
