The Knowns and the Unknowns

You know in High School when they start asking you questions like "Where are you going to be in 5 years? Where do you see yourself in 10 years? What are you going to be doing with your life?"

I hate those questions. No one knows where they will be 5 or 10 years from this moment. You can guess, you can imagine, you can hope... but you can't know.

I always used to irritate the teachers when I said, "I will be following God, and going wherever he leads me." Apparently it wasn't a solid enough answer for them. But in my head, I did have a thought as to what the plan would be. I am a planner, so of course I had an idea. I knew I would be following God and doing what He wanted me to do. But I also assumed I knew that that was.

If you has asked be back then, I never, EVER in my wildest imagination would have said, "In Madagascar."

And I can guarantee that if I had said that, several people would have had a good laugh, and then probably sent me to the counselor to break the news that it was never going to happen. Even when I really was getting ready to go, I would run into people from high school and they would just stare at me. Some laughed. Heck I laughed too... I mean, who knew it would really actually happen. Who knew I would really actually be here? Certainly not me.

"'For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD! "Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" (Jeremiah 29:11)

I feel like every Christian, and even non-Christians know that verse. Let me put it this way...

Jeremiah 29:11 is to Christian Encouragement as John 3:16 is to a Salvation Message

I am not saying these verses are bad, I just have always felt like there is the entire rest of the Bible full of amazing verses that we can sometimes forget.

That said, it's this promise that I am clinging to right now. I never dreamed I would be here. Yet I am, because God has plans for me that I do not even know about yet. I am nervous, that is for sure. This is so outside of my comfort zone. Yesterday I let myself get caught up in worry, but not today. Today I am choosing to trust God's plan for my life. He has never led me astray before, and he never will.

So off I go. From now until Sunday night I will go with the team and get the things we need for the next 5ish months of our lives. Then bright and early Monday morning we head down.

Thanks for your prayers as we travel and start the next phase of all of our lives. I am so excited to watch God's plans unfold in my life, and in the lives of others... even if it is a little scary on the "unknown" side of the plan.

Survival

God has been reminding me of something lately that I wanted to share with you before I head off the blogosphere for a while.

See, as I look towards the next few months of my life, I know there will be some great days, and some not so pretty days. There will be days when I crawl under my mosquito net at the end of the day and I feel like it was a good day, and there will be days when I just cry out of sheer frustration and exhaustion.

But no matter what each day brings, I know that eventually the day will end. There are 24 hours in each day, good or bad. The sun will set on the one day and a new day will dawn in it's beauty. God's mercies are new each day, and they are sufficient for that day's troubles. 

Each day, each season, each trial will eventually come to an end. The sun will set and rise anew. I will worship His holy name in every moment, in every season, in everything.

Sing like never before, Oh my soul! I worship your holy name. 

I say goodbye, and I say hello.

No matter how long you have been in a place, goodbyes are always hard. In the last 3 months I have  come to adore these munchkins, and though the goodbye is only for a short time, it is still hard.

On the plus side, this goodbye is not perminant. Before I know it, I will have crazy pictures in of us in Madagascar, instead of France. It will be nice to have pictures without winter coats on...

The thing about goodbyes, is that they always make way for new hellos.

Hello Mr. Chameleon chilling in the avocado tree in the back yard. It's nice to meet you.

There are new sights, new sounds and new smells to take in all around me. This place is so different than anywhere I have ever been. 

There are children playing everywhere. In the streets, in vacant lots, anywhere they can chase each other and get dirty.

I will never understand a child's fascination with mud puddles... but it definitely is an interest that crosses all cultures.

 Oh and tree climbing... I think my brother tried this once on a tree with no branches... he didn't get quite as far...

They even bring their tag along little brothers and sisters out to play. 

It's really beautiful here.

Not just the landscape, but the people as well. 

I am only here in Tana for about a week more. So there are more goodbyes in my near future.

But these pictures and memories will stay with me for the rest of my life. 

Providence, not coincidence.

 I am reading Charles Spurgeon's "Faith's Checkbook" devotional, and this was January 30th entry. I read it about 4 hours before I started my journey to Madagascar. God is so amazing. Wherever you are going in life, whether around the globe or down the street, God is with you. Have no fear.

January 30

A Heavenly Escort"And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest"   (Genesis 28:15).

Do we need journeying mercies? Here are choice ones -- God's presence and preservation, In all places we need both of these, and in all places we shall have them if we go at the call of duty, and not merely according to our own fancy. Why should we look upon removal to another country as a sorrowful necessity when it is laid upon us by the divine will? In all lands the believer is equally a pilgrim and a stranger; and yet in every region the LORD is His dwelling place, even as He has been to His saints in all generations. We may miss the protection of an earthly monarch, but when God says, "I will keep thee," we are in no real danger. This is a blessed passport for a traveler and a heavenly escort for an emigrant.

Jacob had never left his father's room before; he had been a mother's boy and not an adventurer tike his brother. Yet he went abroad, and God went with him. He had little luggage and no attendants; yet no prince ever journeyed with a nobler bodyguard. Even while he slept in the open field, angels watched over him, and the LORD God spoke to him. If the LORD bids us go, let us say with our LORD Jesus, "Arise, let us go hence."