new plans.

One year ago, after a very teary goodbye, Dave boarded a plane to visit our team in Congo and discern what God had in store for our new partnership with Help One Now. We truly had no idea what would come from this trip. Yet, we could feel the Spirit moving and we knew God was up to something. We sensed a new season on the horizon. This trip felt like a step over an uncertain threshold.

Gosh, you guys. It’s funny how God prepares you for what’s around the next bend, yet, when you actually round that new corner, you still end up shell-shocked. Is it just me? I mean, I knew then that things were going to change. I knew that God was doing a new thing. But from this vantage point I can now see: I had no idea what was really coming.

I didn’t realize that somewhere along the way, my identity had become tied to what I did, rather than who I am. I didn’t know then that God would need pry my fingers from the white-knuckled grasp I had on this work. I had no clue that the ground beneath me would go from solid and strong to unstable and disorienting or that everything needed to be stripped away in order to be built again.

One of the toughest parts of walking blindly into a new season is saying goodbye to the previous one. We had a sweet reprieve of confidently walking in the center of God’s will. We felt His guidance and assurance as we pressed forward.  Plans fell into place, doors opened, energy and excitement ran high.

Suddenly, things changed and I was left feeling disoriented and confused. I haven’t shared about all of the changes here because the details aren’t really important. The truth is: this is all for good but change is always hard and sometimes it doesn’t look so good when you’re right smack in the middle of it.

So here I am. In the midst of this season of change, peeking through the swirling fog of confusion, and catching sight of new plans. Once again, I don’t know where God will take any of this. I just know my role. I know I am asked to keep my hands open and to lay down my plans and expectations. The beauty of it all is that my plans and expectations are never, ever as grand as God’s.

Because of a small seed planted a year ago, I’ll be the one boarding a plane headed to Africa next month. Yet, this time, I won’t be returning to our beloved Congo. I will be stepping foot on a new soil. I’ll visit a place that captured Dave’s heart and meet a man who gained his respect. Dave couldn’t stop talking about Pastor John or Zimbabwe after he returned home last fall. He had stopped there after visiting Congo and listened to, learned from and dreamt with Pastor John. We both knew this was the beginning of something new yet neither of us knew exactly what that meant.

Now, I sorta-kinda know.

I’m learning that it’s okay to not have all of the answers. {Hallelujah! Since I very rarely ever have any of the answers}. Instead, I need to simply do the one thing right in front of me. For me, right now, that one thing involves conquering a real (very, very real) fear and boarding an airplane. That’s it. I just have to get on the plane. I have to, as my friend Lindsy, says: Do the brave thing scared. God will meet me there and then he’ll show me the next thing.

I can’t wait to share these new plans as they unfold with you all. Have I told you lately that you’re the most supportive and encouraging and big-hearted-justice-loving readers in all the world? Really and truly. Thank you for being so very awesome, friends. <3