We leave in one semana, (week) for Espana. In addition to all the divertido (excitement) of planning this trip, I have shed some serious tears. I'll get to that in a minute...
Jason and I enjoy traveling. Mucho. I'm pretty sure our experiences as a young married couple working with Teen Mania Ministries in the summers, taking hundreds of teenagers overseas on trips, equipped us with a sense of confidence and ease we would not have otherwise known when it comes to travel. The President of TMM is Ron Luce. He started TMM when he was a young guy with a passion for youth ministry and equipping young people to share God's love around the world through short term mission trips. It's still going strong and has blossomed into so much more than only summer trips. The thing is, it's always been run by youthful people, and for this particular ministry, at least in my own life, it was a very good thing because it helped me learn Trust at an early age.
You see, I hadn't ever been out of the country other than to a Mexican vacation town with my family where I would eat shrimp, play in the tide pools, drink a lot of Coke on ice, and buy cheap trinkets to "decorate" my adolescent room. As the middle daughter of three girls, my dad was quite protective of us, even though I had wanted to go on mission trips here and there.
Then, 19 years ago, that is, one year after Jason and I were married, we celebrated our 1st of many anniversaries overseas...with lots of teenagers. We were Team Leaders in Venezuela, and next to a week of intensive prayer and late hours of leadership training in the classroom, with further training on a ropes course, where I incidentally spent one hour, una hora, 60 minutes, on top of a "Pamper Pole", crying like a baby while everyone else went to lunch, it was this experience that was supposed to make me, a 22-year old newly married "grown-up" responsible enough to take 13-18 year old kids away from the comfy American lifestyle for one month. I'm forever grateful for the real life, on the road, real-time, hands on training I received right in the thick of it.
It was there Jason and I found our traveling mojo. With a new found affinity for world adventure, our love of ministry and sharing these experiences with others, Jason and I saw how once we leave the comfort and ease and familiarity of our day to day lives, even with a bit of apprehension, Big World warnings, and the fear of the unknown, there is this flow of trust which occurs with God, the Creator of this World, and between the two of us, to just take one step at a time, not get freaked out, get to know locals and ask questions, for directions and recommendations, and to just. have. fun.
And so, even though we've been married 20 years and have been parents for 11 years now, even leaving Em for Mexico several times, Japan, and weekends here and there, we've never written a Will.
*I'll pause while you gasp...
And we're back.
The process hasn't been difficult as far as "stuff" goes because having loved Noah and lost him, we're not big "stuff" people, but let's just say, my sinuses were stuffed for several nights, crying myself to sleep thinking of who we'd leave our KIDS with and pleading with God to follow through and bless me with this promise He gave me a few years ago, trusting Him with the number of ALL OF OUR DAYS, and just NOT LIVING IN FEAR since anything could happen anywhere, any day of the week.
What does this have to do with "Operation Get Sexy for Spain?", you might ask.
Well, it helps me keep the fact I've even been married for 20 years to my very best friend, in perspective. It reminds me God is BIG and He loves me and loves everyone else and has a plan and sees a bigger picture, one we aren't able to see, but it's good and I can trust Him. I can trust Him with my heart, my fears, my STRESS and how I manage it, and allow my heart to be filled by Him in ALL things rather than quick fixes which will never satisfy, like salty or sugary carbs that don't actually FUEL my body.
Does God care how I look in a sundress in Spain? No. I highly doubt it. However, He cares about me, and you, because He hand-crafted us and knows us by heart, and He promises...He promises.
And you thought the two weren't related ;)
No comments:
Post a Comment