A MIXED BAG

Today has been a really mixed bag of emotions.

This morning, a lady from First Baptist Church of Jackson came to meet us, especially Travis. FBC has started a support ministry for We Will Go. Each of the missionaries has a church member that has signed up to be their special prayer supporter. Travis' special friend, Miss Karen, brought homemade snicker doodles and spent time just getting to know us as a family and then spending special time with Travis. You can only imagine how it blessed my heart to see them praying together out in our paddock. And her sweet but powerful prayer over me just before she left filled my heart with gratitude.

Then, after lunch, we faced probably the hardest part of our journey to the mission field so far. We said goodbye to our son David's dog. David found Indie when she was a 4 week old puppy that had been dropped off behind our barn. For the past 4 years, she has been a sweet companion for our kids, but especially David. Never once has David said he didn't want to move to the mission field if it meant getting rid of her. He has said many times that he wants to move to We Will Go and then on to Swaziland to serve. But that doesn't mean that obedience is always easy. Many times we are called to sacrifice what is dear to us for those things that are dearest to the heart of our Heavenly Father. In this case, it means finding homes for all of our pets and leaving the idyllic life we've lived here for the past 13 years. But as we are often saying these days, Jesus is worth it as are those He is calling us to serve.

After Indie left with her new family, who we have no doubts will love her well, we had another house showing and then a phone call we've been waiting for. A wonderful family wants to buy our home. They made us a great offer, we accepted, and now we are in the process of selling our home to them.

That's right. We have a buyer for our farm.

As you can imagine, we are all pretty excited. Some of those reasons are deeply spiritual. Some of those reasons are just practical. As our 13 year old son Patrick said upon hearing the news "good, now we won't have to keep on cleaning". Have you ever tried to keep a house, barn, and 3 acres clean enough for showing when 7 kids, 2 parents, and all their stuff and critters were involved?

It is not a fun experience, I can tell you that, but then life ain't all about fun.

It is about loving and learning and letting go. It is about finding out what dreams God wants you to live out and then not letting anything stop you from pursuing them.

Since God told us to move to Swaziland nearly 2 years ago and then told us to move to We Will Go nearly 6 months ago, we've been through some ups and downs and experienced just about every emotion imaginable. I cried when Indie left today and I imagine there will be many more tears in the days, weeks, months, and years ahead. But I also guarantee that the laughter, joy, and contentment of following our Lord will far out weigh the mourning.

Because as crazy as it is, the more we give up, the more we gain. The more we lose for His sake, the more He gives. The more we die to self, the more abundant life we really experience.

We don't follow Him for what we'll get out of it, but the amazing Father that He is, He just loves to bless His children. It may not look like the kind of gifts that the world craves --- fancy houses, popularity, and career success --- but the kind of gifts He gives bring peace and joy that are infinitely worth more than silver or gold. Knowing that a lost, homeless man gets set free through Jesus, an orphan child experiences the love of the Father, or a dying widow finds comfort and peace, makes all the hard times worth it. Makes all the goodbyes bearable.