Monday, June 04, 2012

FILLS MY HEART WITH JOY

Anna has now been at training camp since Friday. We're already missing her and we've been eager to hear how things were going. We were able to piece together that she was having a positive experience just from some very brief text messages. But then today,I found a bunch of photos that Adventures in Missions uploaded to facebook and then she and her teammates started posting their reactions to training camp on their team blog and this mama's heart was filled to overflowing with joy.

Anna at Training Camp Resized Expedition 2012

I mean, what mama with any ounce of maternal love in her being wouldn't smile from seeing her daughter laughing so freely with her teammates? But then, to read what she had to say? Well, let's just say that as a follower of Jesus, I can't think of a post that could be make me more satisfied. As though we didn't have enough confirmation already that she's exactly where God wants her to be, this just shows us one of the reasons why.

Here's what Anna wrote:

"You should know that I love the extreme. If I see a river I want to swim in it. If I see a fast car I want to race it. I love living in the moment and jumping headlong into things.

P1260640 Anna on bridge resized and edited

But I was in no way ready to fully realize how extreme God wants to be with me before this trip started.

Despite being a Christian for all my life, I had never fully surrendered to Him. I had never just opened myself and told God that He was free to come in and do whatever the heck He wanted in me. Whatever He wanted to do with me. And I finally said that at camp this week. For the first time in my life I stepped back and just gave in to Him. It's terrifying, it's like walking down the stairs in the dark. You know something will be there to stop your foot and keep you from tumbling down, but your heart still leaps into your throat and your stomach still catches as you step out. That's what it was like for me to submit total control to God. And it was awesome. We fly out tomorrow with a final destination of Entebbe, Uganda. And I'm so ready.

Watch out Africa. Here we come."

To read more about Anna's Expedition Team and the things that God is doing, go to their blog: http://expedition.adventures.org/

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