For those of you who are still having trouble visualizing me as a roughin’ it/outdoory kind of woman, I’d like to share this picture with you.
I think I pull the look of rather well. 🙂 It has been really easy to get caught up in the moment during this last week of packing and worry if I have packed the right kind of clothes or if I remembered to stick in an extra bottle of hand sanitizer. But then I remember what Jesus taught to His disciples in Luke:
He continued this subject with his disciples. “Don’t fuss about what’s on the table at mealtimes or if the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your inner life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body. Look at the ravens, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, carefree in the care of God. And you count far more.
Has anyone by fussing before the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? If fussing can’t even do that, why fuss at all? Walk into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They don’t fuss with their appearance—but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them. If God gives such attention to the wildflowers, most of them never even seen, don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you?
What I’m trying to do here is get you to relax, not be so preoccupied with getting so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works.
Steep yourself in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions.
You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. Don’t be afraid of missing out. You’re my dearest friends! The Father wants to give you the very kingdom itself.
L
uke 12:22-32 (The Message version)
I fly to Atlanta on Tuesday morning. I will meet up with the rest of my 30 teammates that afternoon and we will fly out to Johannesburg, South Africa together that evening. We have a layover on Wednesday in London and, and we are hoping to be able to do a bit of sightseeing if we have time. Sometime on Wednesday we finish our journey to South Africa and get on a bus for a couple hour drive to Swaziland, were we will have our final training session. Phew! I’m tired just thinking about all of that. I guess I should get used to it early, it will be my life for the next 11 months! 🙂
Next time you hear from me, I’ll be in Africa! I don’t have any idea what the internet situation will be, but I will post as soon as I can. Please pray for traveling mercies, and that our team is able to come together and continue where we left off from our April training.
Peace and love.
