Waiting is not my forte.
Believe it or not, I am not a lazy person. I need to be constantly busy, even watching
tv I am browsing the internet, texting, & playing video games all the while
holding a conversation with the person next to me. I always need to be kept busy, be on the
move.
I've been trying to become more patient & leave my life
in God’s hands. It is a new concept to
truly hand over the reins & go where I am led. I buck & fight & say, “but what about
this plan?” My biggest challenge has
been the past month. As we watched Ebola
run rampant across West Africa, my heart's home, the uncertainty of the ship’s future
plans was palpable. As the choices for
probable countries decreased due to Ebola, we were left scrambling to find a
country that had a safe harbor & could support us on short notice. On top of that, we also discovered an issue
with one of the ship’s propellers & needed to return to shipyard in order
to fix things. One thing after another.
As we waited with baited breath to find out where we could
go, a small voice inside kept telling me to do something. I made a promise to help those in need &
stripping & waxing the floors didn’t seem to be fulfilling that
promise. My feet were itching & my
heart was aching, I needed to do something.
I kept having this feeling like I was needed somewhere, I needed to be
helping. I went as far as contacting
Samaritan’s Purse & putting my name on their Ebola taskforce waiting
list. I had it all figured out, fly to
the UK, go to Liberia, work for 2 weeks, fly back to the UK for 3 weeks of
quarantine & then meet the ship where ever it was going to be. Sounded perfect. The dates seemed to be lining up, as more
& more changes & challenges with the ship appeared, it was like God was
opening the door for me to go. I didn’t
want to go, but I did.
Uncertainty of the future is something I think everyone
fears. We like to know what is coming,
we like to plan & have back up plans.
When we are asked to just wait & see, we become stressed, tempers
flare, feelings are hurt. Small issues
become big ones. So many times God has
asked us to stop, listen & wait. How
many times have we thought we’ve known better?
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans
to prosper you & not to harm you, plans to give you hope & a future” (Jeremiah
29:11) One of my favorite verses. As I look over this whole big mess of tangled
possibilities, I know that God knows what I am supposed to do.
So we have a plan, a course before us now. Even though we know where we are going, we
cannot officially announce it yet until next week. Needless to say, we are sailing away from the
Canary Islands this weekend. We will
have a long sail, with a stopover for a couple weeks in another country, before
continuing on to the country next. I
will be sailing. I wasn’t sure, because
I was waiting to hear back from Samaritan’s Purse about helping in West Africa,
but another voice told me to rest, there will be other opportunities to help. So I am going to rest. My heart still cries for my home & friends
back in West Africa, but I know I am to rest for now.
Please pray for
- Protection over the people of West Africa
- Their governments to make wise decisions out of
knowledge & not fear
- Protection over those that God has called to
aide in the relief efforts
- Our ship sailing into our country next
Blessings
