“The toughest job you’ll ever love.”

That’s what started it all. Started my dream of changing the world. Those Peace Corps commercials from the sixties, when I was just a kid and didn’t have a clue. But I would watch those ads, and see young Americans feeding starving children in Ethiopia or building a bridge in Colombia, and I would think, “That’s what I want to do some day.”

Instead, God sent me a husband (and then a second husband), two children, an eight to five job, a mortgage, a car payment, a dog and too many cats. Ok, maybe God didn’t do all of that. Maybe I made some choices of mine own. Maybe I took the easy path, the road more traveled, the conventional life.

In 2005, when God told me it was time to take that trip to a third world country, to make a difference, to change the world, I wasn’t easily convinced. After all, I had the husband and the kids and two dogs at that time. Plus I was old (hard to believe that I am even older now). I went to Africa, just as God had told me to do, and while I was there, I felt sure that I couldn’t make a difference and I certainly couldn’t change the world.

What changed inside of me? Did I lower my expectations? Did I accept second-best? No, but I figured it out. I can make a difference, you can make a difference. It really isn’t that hard. Just answer when God calls.

"The same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world and changing lives everywhere, just as it changed yours that very first day you heard it and understood about God’s great kindness to sinners." 

Colossians 1:6 Living Bible

(If you are reading this blog on the day it posted, you still have a chance to get my memoir for free and learn all about that first trip to Africa. Simply click here.) 

To Remember and to never forget

Our entire world had changed on September 11, 2001. Living in the relative safety of northern Wisconsin, things like terrorist attacks were a distant tragedy. I prayed for the victims and the survivors and all of the affected families. I cried that evening when I drove into our yard after work and saw that Nick and Val had lowered our flag to half-mast. I called my friend in Minnesota just to hear her voice. My brother-in-law had been in Washington that morning on his way to the Pentagon. My prayers included a tearful thank-you that God had kept my loved ones out of harm’s way.

Five years after that, I felt safe in Africa. Except for the quilt-fetching incident in the slums, I was confident nothing bad would personally happen to me or the team. While we were in Kenya, however, just days before we were to leave, fourteen suspected terrorists were arrested in the London airport. With the liquids they planned to carry onto their planes, they hoped to construct bombs. Security worldwide went on high alert. 

(Excerpt from Chapter 16, A Time of war and a time of peace, "A Time for Every Purpose Under Heaven: One Woman's Trip to Africa - My Story") 

Ok, maybe I am a day late with this, but are we are ever too late to share, to remember, to look forward with hope and to pray without ceasing. 

It's all part of God's Plan

“I say this because I know the plans that I have for you.” This message is from the Lord. “I have good plans for you. I don’t plan to hurt you. I plan to give you hope and a good future.” Jeremiah 29:11Easy-to-Read Version

Here it is December already. I’ve been thinking of what I was going to blog about on Sundays this month, what Christmas theme I was going to use. So I went back to last year’s December blogs and see that I really out did myself. I wrote about Christmas three times a week for a whole month. And I had a theme for not only Sundays, but for Thursdays too. I can’t keep up with that kind of stuff this year. I have had so much going on the last two months that I am completely brain-dead. I should be in a coma.

But you know, no matter what I write about, it seems that for whatever reason, God blesses it. I don’t want to sound all sure of myself or overconfident. It really is not me. When God decided over seven years ago that He wanted me to go on that mission trip to Kenya, I never imagined it would turn out this way, that He would totally guide me to write a book about my experience and that He would send this fantastic publisher to me and that so much of this book would fall into place.

It is all in His plans, not mine. Just like sending His Son to us on the first Christmas. It is beyond our control, all we can do is follow God’s plan.

Lord, God Heavenly Father, there is no way that I could ever praise You enough. I am nothing without You. You follow me, You guide me, You care for me, You love me unconditionally. You have granted me everything that my heart desires. Amen

Work in Progress Wednesday

Just a quick note in case anyone is following my work in progress. I am on chapter 16 and have written 33,112 words so far on my novel. The working title of it is "Tale of An African Boy", but as I am writing, so many other characters want their stories told that I may have to change the title when I am finished. I don't know if I shared this picture with you or not, but these boys were the original inspiration for this story. It is the picture I have on the desktop of my laptop, as a constant reminder of my need to stay focused. One of my team mates from my mission trip to Kenya took this picture - I should figure out who it was and give them credit, shouldn't I?