I woke up this morning grinding my gears. Or maybe I should say grinding my fears. We are asking the Lord to raise up a team for us to lead on a 10-day Global Outreach trip to Costa Rica this June. Our heart is to take adults and families with children to serve at the Home of Life, an orphanage which cares for abandoned and at-risk children. Questions rise up. Will anyone want to go? The cost is about $1500 per person. Will the finances come in? Should we really take children? They can’t work as much as adults, and they have the same expenses. What will we do while we’re there? It would be easier and cheaper for our own family to go down for a month than for us to lead a 10-day team. What can we really accomplish in 10 days anyway? And so on, in circles.

So I journaled my heart out to the Lord, gave my fears up to him, and asked him to give me his vision for this team. He took me back to the first Global Outreach trip our family took part in: a 10-day trip to Guatemala. We left our 4 and 1.5 year old children in the states. Childcare was messy (three sets of people helped care for them over the 10 days) and I had to swallow A LOT of pride to ask for it. I was in tears the entire first team meeting. Why was I spending all this money to go help other people’s children, while making other people care for my own? It didn’t make sense.

Then God started working miracles. The finances came in for our family, and kept coming. The Lord provided enough to cover our expenses, and another team member’s as well. He gave me a great love for the team we were a part of. And he gave me a great love for his people out in the nations. We arrived and he gave me a job to do: tailoring four formal dresses for a quinceñera celebration. That is so perfectly up my alley, I can’t even tell you. Stepping out of my American comfort zone and out into the nations has changed our hearts and the focus of our lives. We aren’t so attached to the material lifestyle we live (we’re still learning, I’d hate to give up my ipod!). We have open hearts to take our family where the Lord calls us. When we aren’t going out on new trips, we are praying for and supporting those out in the nations working to share the love of the Father. We have a new level of faith because we’ve stepped out onto the water.

Those 10 days changed everything. It’s impossible to weigh the expense and results accurately. I cast down a material crown before the Lord. He’s growing it into treasure in heaven. What a blessing to be able to step out and invite other families into the journey!

Psalm 121
A song of ascents.

I lift up my eyes to the hills—
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;
indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
The LORD watches over you—
the LORD is your shade at your right hand;
the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.
The LORD will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;
the LORD will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.