1. To keep an eye on how much time we had left to get things done, AND
2. To have a visual on when we would begin this new adventure God had for us. So often, in day to day life and ordinary things, it is very easy for me to become discouraged- wondering when the things God had spoken to us will come to pass. I like to put up reminders for myself- just a visual encouragement that God's plans will come to pass and that we will continue to walk by faith. Is God locked into the dates on my calendar? Absolutely not. He can do it, or not do it, whenever He likes. It just makes me feel better.
So, I wrote all that to say that very soon I will be crossing off October. Where did it go? After I cross it off, only November and December will remain. Yes, there will be January and yes, we are not sure exactly when we will be leaving in January, but I think January will go by quickly also.
We are so excited. Not a 'bounce off the walls' excited, but a deeper kind of excitement. It's like something you have been saving money for and now can finally buy.
I am not as eloquent with writing as Mike is, but I wish I could put into words how I feel. I was 16 when I went on my first month-long, overseas mission trip. I knew then that mission work was in my future. I just had this overwhelming feeling that God could use me to help people, that He would give me a skill that was in demand/much needed in another culture, and that through providing people with physical healing- God would use me to bring emotional healing as well.
That was 14 years ago.
Well, on a lighter note-
This is Solomiya watching me type this blog:
Fourteen years since your first mission trip... I'm encouraged by the words spoken by author and teacher R.T. Kendall, during the GOIAM 2011 conference. He described David's long journey from being anointed as king by the prophet Samuel to actually functioning as king. God had a 20-year plan to prepare David so that he would be the kind of ruler who would also be a "man after His own heart". R.T. described this transition as going from receiving our INTERNAL inheritance (knowing who God has called us to be, internally) to lving our EXTERNAL inheritance. The external inheritance is what the rest of the world sees us doing. Annie has been a missionary and healer in God's eyes even before that first trip to Australia, fourteen years ago, when He first let her know. And although she has been functioning - albeit quietly - in this calling all along, it is now finally becoming time for the WORLD to see who God has chosen her to be. I am proud and humbled to be able to serve with her!
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