Acarigua or Bust!!

I mention in our “about me” that our hearts are geared towards missions. We often talked about missions while we were dating, even though it was a short dating period, we shared our hearts. Spreading God’s message around the world was something we were both passionate about. Spencer and I have both been to foreign countries to serve the Lord, Spencer to Egypt and Mozambique, and I to Belize. If you have gone on a foreign mission trip I am sure you can relate when I say it is absolutely life changing. I say this about foreign mission trips only, because you are completely stepping out of comfort zones and leaning on your relationship with God to guide you through. I am not saying mission trips inside the U.S. aren’t effective for your walk with Christ or meaningful, but there is something about completely leaving everything you know and walking into a different world. It opens up a way to be more intimate with our Father. For me, it was eye opening to really grasp that God is everywhere. It amazed me to see believers, who I went to tell about Jesus, already worshiping the same God I knew! And because someone else had sacrificed their time, fears, and flesh to go and tell others about Jesus, I and others were able to see God’s work and help continue to grow the Kingdom. There is something else that I saw with those who were believers that was actually condemning. Most of the people didn’t have nice things or even a complete home to live in, but they were sold out to Christ. They didn’t need anything else. It was a true love for Christ I saw even in the midst of what we would call desperation. I know I am talking about how others ministered to me. I am sure you have heard many missionaries tell you the same thing about how they went to minister only to be ministered to. It is true. Yes, there are so many people who need to hear the Truth about God’s love also, which is why we go, but there is also a growth and a deepening of your own relationship with Christ.

Since we’ve been a married couple, we haven’t been on a trip, but soon that is all about to change. Our home church, Parkview Baptist Church in Tulsa, is also passionate about mission work and has ministries set up in Venezuela, Russia, India, and Turkey. Spencer and I feel led to be apart of the team going to Venezuela this summer. Our church has made many trips there over the years and has helped start what is now known as the First Baptist Church of Venezuela! This church has blossomed out to now form 100 churches and missions! We are very prayerful and excited about going as a couple to this trip. We both feel that we are to use what God created, marriage, as a tool. We hope and feel led to really grasp what God intended marriage for as we venture in His unfailing will for our lives.

I am writing this blog so that those of you who are believers can be praying for us as we prepare for this trip. For me specifically, pray for my fear. We will not be able to take our one-year-old daughter on this trip for safety reasons (although we do want her and our future children to start coming with us as soon as she/they are old enough). The duration of the trip is 10 days, and for a mommy, it is very difficult to be away from my daughter. I need to be confident in the sovereignty of God and His will for my/our life. As our friend Brent Higgins once said, “There is no safer place than in the will of God.” I don’t want to waste my life by drowning in fear and lies that Satan feeds my mind. I wish to be engulfed with the works of our Father, and a mighty, useful servant for His Kingdom.