Overwhelmed...At First!!!

Ecclesiastes 11:5 "As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother's womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things."


So, I was running this morning and had some thoughts bouncing around in this head of mine...scary, I know, but it happened! I was trying to figure out what we need to do with all the devastation that Charlie and Lashae have now personally seen. They will never be the same, once you have seen what they have seen and know what they know, it changes a person, and they must do something. The Bible tells us that we can not pretend we don't know something once we know. So....what do we do???? Well, as I was getting more and more overwhelmed just thinking about it, I realized EXACTLY what to do...RELY ON THE LORD...ASK HIM WHAT HE WANTS US TO DO...AND LEAN ON HIM FOR EVERYTHING THAT WE NEED, TO DO WHATEVER HE WANTS US TO DO. RELY ON HIM FOR THE IDEAS THE FINANCES, THE TIME, THE ENERGY...EVERYTHING.

I remembered how this whole mission trip happened in the first place...first of all it wasn't AT ALL my idea or desire...I actually have had quite the attitude about missions...but, the LORD changed my heart. I had nothing to do with it, other than seeking Him and getting to know Him better, and then my heart was changed.

Then, I remember thinking there is no way, we are in the worst financial way we have EVER been, it would be irresponsible to do a mission...well, I was right, it would be if we were relying on ourselves and our ability to pay for it, or figure it out. Instead we PRAYED and we asked the Lord what is Your will, and He PROVIDED....I still don't fully understand that part, but I can tell you, we did not choose to put money toward Africa that should have been used to pay bills...not even close....God provided in miraculous ways. We also didn't do fundraisers we did not DO anything, we relied on the Lord alone, it was too much for us to figure out, we can't even figure out how to make ends meet as it is right now. So we gave Him complete control and HE provided.

Then, I remember thinking and verbalizing...Lashae is a senior, again, it would be irresponsible to leave her last month of school and miss 2 weeks....my goodness, she has worked for this and been focused for 12 years now...it would be stupid to go right now. And the Lord totally worked it out it the blink of an eye....with each teacher and each class, and they encouraged her to GO!!! Same for Charlie, he finished several projects before he left, the timing could not have been better on his end of things as far as work goes.

So when I remember all that, and then get overwhelmed about what I"M to do with AFRICA...I had to literally STOP...I'm not going to do a thing, except PRAY, seek the LORD, listen to HIM, rely on HIM alone for EVERYTHING and He will change my heart, He will provide and He will work out all the details and the timing and make it happen. I will RELY fully on Him, because when I don't I make a big ole mess. I know I can best be used by God when I quit trying to figure it out and make it happen, because I'm at the end of myself....I'm in such disarray that I can't figure out how to navigate into next week, so all I can do is look to Him and that is when He can work, when we get out of HIS way, and become the vessel we were meant to be.