This journey actually started a very long time ago….
You see….Once upon a time, there was this princess….and she had BIG dreams and she knew God had BIG plans for her. And many of her dreams came true….but as time went on life got hard….really hard…and she lost her way. In time she forgot who she was and what she had been called to do. She forgot about dreams that were planted in her heart many years ago. But thankfully she was rescued not only by a Prince but by the King of Kings. And that is where our story begins today.
So if you haven’t figured it out I am that Princess. (ha!) And
many years ago I had two very real God planted dreams in my heart. One was to teach Preschool and not only that,
but to have my own Preschool. I had
notebooks full of sketches of how I would set up my classroom. I had lesson plans and schedules all
ready. And I did teach Preschool, very
young in fact. I was always given the
job over people much older than me and even with more education. I was spoken over in my teenage years by my
dear friend and neighbor Cynthia Jones.
She was the first person to tell me I had a gift from God to work with
children. And then when I was 27 years
old my dreams really did come true as Stepping Stones was born. For those of you that don’t know, Stepping
Stones is a preschool that I and 3 other dear friends founded together. It has been such a joy and pleasure to be
there all these years. It truly is a
gift from God and I have loved every second of being there. It is
my pride and joy.
But all those years ago God planted another seed in my heart. Not only did I want to teach and have my own preschool,
but I wanted to work with orphans. I
remember hearing about orphanages and being moved to tears. I knew God wanted me to love on children who
did not know love. But as I said, life
got hard. I became a single mom. I knew my son was my 1st priority. And although I know I did not do everything
perfect with him, God is so good and merciful.
He has made many things right that I did wrong.
I will NEVER stop speaking of God’s mercy and grace. He makes all things good. Not perfect, not easy, and not without
challenges. But He can turn anything
around if you go to him and seek his ways.
And you know my son is now in
college, forging away his own life.
Three years ago I was
sitting in church and I heard about a mission trip our church was
sponsoring. It was a trip to Swaziland
Africa. It was working with Orphans in a
Preschool. You better believe my ears
perked up fast and my heart started to race.
I was too late to be a part of this trip but I thought, well I’ll go on
the next one. But there was no next
one. Due to budget cuts the church had
to put some mission trips on hold indefinitely.
I constantly thought about Swaziland.
It just would not leave me. Now
fast forward 3 years. God was working on
me BIG TIME! Obedience was the name of
the game (and still is). About a year
ago I heard about this family from my church. Rob and Jennifer Taylor and their children
felt called to move to Swaziland Africa.
I did not know them…but I had nothing to lose and I Face Booked
Jennifer. I told her I was interested in
Swaziland and asked her if we could talk.
We met for coffee and the rest is history. We talked, cried, and prayed. It was settled; once they got to Swazi I was
coming for a visit.
Since then I’d love to tell you it has been an easy process
but it has not been. I have
doubted. I have panicked. I have literally freaked out about
going. The thing that has been the
hardest for me is going alone. I have
prayed and asked anyone that might possibly consider going with me to go. But I know God is calling me to this on my
own for now. Don’t get me wrong, the
Taylor’s are waiting for me with open arms, and they have PROMISED me they will
be at the airport gate cheering me on. I
know won’t really be alone. But for
whatever reason I wanted a travel buddy.
I know God is telling me to trust him.
I’ve got this…
Today we had the most
amazing sermon that just hit it out of the ball park for me. It was about God’s call on your life…NO
EXCUSES! And the sermon was on Moses and
all the many excuses he used to try to get out of what God had called him to
do. I am no Moses, but boy do I have a
lot of excuses ready and waiting. Can
you imagine if Moses had walked away and said….Sorry not gonna do it. That is probably my biggest fear of all. That I would not walk in obedience with God
and someone else would take my place.
That I would live this mediocre life with no real meaning. We have one life to live….we better live it
out loud! Today at church we had to
write on a post-it-note our insecurities that we’re holding back from what God
is calling us to do. We laid the
post-it-note at the altar and then picked up a luggage tag and wrote on it what
God was calling us to do. It was truly profound! I bet you can guess what I wrote. J
I am going to Swaziland in less than two weeks. Swaziland is a tiny country next to South
Africa. It has the highest HIV infection
in the world. I will actually be flying into Johannesburg,
South Africa. It is about a 4 hour drive
from there to Manzini, Swaziland where I will be staying most of the time. The orphans that I will be working with live
on a farm at New Life Homes. It is about
a half an hour from Manzini. (Although I
plan on staying a few days on the farm with the teachers there.) The orphans go to school at the farm along
with other children from the community. If you
want to know more about the farm and orphanage please go to www.africanleadershippartners.org
. It is not a traditional orphanage but has family
style homes with a house Mother. I was informed tonight that I will be doing some
lessons at the school with the Preschoolers.
I am very excited/nervous about this.
There are about 20 preschoolers in the class and I was told they have high
energy. (What preschoolers don’t?) J
More than anything else please pray for me. Pray for peace. Pray for guidance. Pray for absolute confidence in what God
wants for me in the future. Pray for my
son Chance, that he will be at peace with all of this. I don’t know what the future holds….but I do
know God holds it in his hands. And that
is quite enough for me. Please feel free
to contact me if you have any questions.
And thank you so much for your support and love and prayers through all
of this.
