Be Strong and Courageous!

...Well, my last post ended with "...Emmanuel, God with us." Certainly He IS with us.

Chuck and I teach (our daughter's class) a second grade Bible Fellowship class at church, 2 Sundays a month. The Bible verse this week was:

"Be strong and courageous and do the work." 1 Chronicles 28:20

Our lesson came from Judges 4; the story of the Prophet Deborah and Barak. I won't tell the story as you can look it up yourself. However, the gist of the story is Deborah encourages Barak to proceed with what God has instructed him to do. Barak had been instructed by God to take his army and fight Sisera, and God promised that Barak would win. However, Barack was afraid. Barack's response to Deborah was that he would go if she would go with him...so, Deborah went, the battle was fought, and Barack and his army won...just as God had promised!

The last 2 weeks have been a spiritual challenge for me. I've shared in previous postings that I have been "instructed" to go to Uganda, Africa and will be going in May for orphan care.

My challenge come into the picture when I began conversing with my physician about the particular immunizations I would need for the trip. One particular immunization that is recommended is for Yellow Fever. The CDC now reports that several people with the particular Neuromuscular disease I have, has had ill effects and/ or died due to the immunization. So, it is not recommended that I receive it. Furthermore, while there's only a small chance of me getting yellow fever, I have a 40% chance of death should I get bitten by the mosquito carrying Yellow Fever.

Initially, this news brought this "call" to a halt. I couldn't believe nor did I understand how God could have been so specific with this call to Uganda, simply to then "pull the rug"...

The following is an exurb from an e-mail I sent to a few friends:

Chuck and I both feel the information my physician gave me was information to prepare me for Africa. We know that God has certainly called me there. We discussed our “call” to be steadfast in our faith and to be anxious for nothing. God has provided both Chuck and I a peace with a decision to continue to move forward at this point, trusting in the faithfulness of God.

However, while driving forward, we also pray that if it is God’s desire for me to be a “Moses” and simply lead “the people” to Africa and I NOT be given the opportunity to experience Africa, we pray He will prevent my stepping on the plane with a kidney stone (I currently have 2 kidneys filled with stones!) or some type of obvious movement of the hand of God at the last moment.

So, at this time, we will continue to move forward confident of His “calling” and confident of His sovereignty. I refuse to bow to the “element of fear”. These children (the orphans in Uganda) have no hope for their physical future nor their spiritual future. They must come to know HIM...and if I should die serving there, I can’t think of a better thing to be doing than serving Him on my "way out". I simply have to trust that He will be faithful to my family and that His grace is sufficient, especially for our girls.

God has blessed us as a family to be able to adopt 2 of the “fatherless”. Furthermore, we have been blessed to see one of them accept Christ as her Lord and Savior. Hope’s eternity (our middle daughter) is secure...and Lord willing, Chloe (our youngest) will follow in a few years. While I can’t adopt the world and present Jesus to them all, there still remains work I can do to offer “hope” to those who remain “fatherless”. I’m not sure why God has burdened and passioned my heart so much for these children, but I’m thankful for it. Serving them is where I find Him...He IS the hope to the hopeless. How tragic to live this life without that “hope”. With “hope” we can endure all things...and these children are faced to endure things our minds can’t even fathom and flat refuse to think on. I think of my children, and then try to imagine them living one day in the life of “the least of these”, and it’s enough to break my heart.

So...I covet your prayers as we continue to pursue what we feel God has asked our family to do. As Christians, we're called to be ready, willing and able...May we be found laying it ALL on the line for Him!

My friend, be found "strong and courageous and do the work." that He has called you to!

Blessings!