THE BEGINNING.....

I’m ready! I cannot be silent any longer. There is such a huge calling inside me to be a VOICE for the VOICELESS! I seriously have no idea what this even looks like; where this is going to lead me. I have no idea how to even go about this. But I cannot sit silent any longer. This is not a new feeling. It is the way God made me, who I am. Anyone close to me has surely been aware of it. This longing or seed has been there all along. Ever since I was young I have felt this calling. Experiences along the way have only confirmed it, like as a child, the huge impact that I experienced when my parents took in a young, single mother’s baby so she could get through treatment or as a teenager with my first trip to Africa. I remember on one of the last days there thinking, this is what I was meant to do, promising I would return. The decisions on what to study in college were always made with the ultimate goal of reaching the “least of these” the most effectively. It took until last summer for me to fulfill the promise of returning to Africa. It was his perfect timing, His ultimate plan, to send us to Ethiopia when he did for this was when He wanted to ignite the spark that he implanted there as a child.

God has blessed me so abundantly with 4 wonderful children and the most incredible, tolerant, committed, responsible husband ever! The blessing and responsibility of being, “wife” and “mom” to these 5 people is one of my TOP Priorities, with only GOD coming before it. I pray with confidence as I take the steps of faith God is calling me to do, that he will allow me to always keep my priorities, as they should be. I have struggled over this for sometime. But I truly have come to believe that it would be irresponsible for me to continue on as we are. We have a responsibility to live out the purpose God has for us and to teach our children how to live beyond self. I am not saying that I think this is going to be easy. I really do not know how to go about this at all especially with the way this social system we live in is set up.

As for my husband (thank you, Jesus for my husband), He is my rock. Yes, at times it has felt like he was a brick wall and I think I may have been bitter because I have thought he was holding me back. When in reality, without him I may have carelessly thrown my seed onto the rocky ground. He is the one that has made sure the soil was right, and fertile. He has been the wise one to make sure that before the seed has been planted that there was plenty of water and sun on had, so that it and everything around it would not wither and fade. He is not only the wind beneath our wings but he is the right wing. He is the one directing and guiding along the way, kind of like a rudder. Do not be fooled if at times you may only see or hear the rather vocal ship sailing by, my husband is the rudder that’s stirring the whole thing. I am sorry, M.D., when I have kicked and pouted along the journey, wanting it my way. Hopefully someday I will no longer need reminders and just completely summit to His will without question!

Whew! All that said.. plans are underway!

"HERE I AM LORD,

USE ME!"