Mission Trips Part 5 -- Dallas, TX

Thank God it's Friday! This week has actually gone by pretty quickly for me, but nonetheless, I am still very happy that it's Friday. This time around I am writing about my fourth and second to last mission trip experience. If you are getting a bit bored with this little segment then just hang in there because I only have one "mission trip post" left (besides the one I will write about Costa Rica). Speaking of, 1 week from today Josh and I will be on a plane to Central America! :)

 

One of the last things I did before graduating college was go on a mission trip to Dallas, Texas during Spring Break 2011. This trip was definitely different for me because it was the first mission trip I had been on that I wasn't fully excited about. I was going through a rough time in my personal life and had signed up for this trip prior to knowing I may not be in the best mindset for missions. I was hesitant, but I trusted Dallas was where I was meant to be. Going to Texas ended up being really good for me and God truly met me where I was at during that week. He allowed me to reach out to others who were struggling while I was feeling broken myself. He gave me the peace, patience, and strength to joyfully serve on that trip while I was going through a hard time. As much as I was there to help others, God also used the trip to heal me and work in my life. Pretty awesome how He can do both at once.

 

 

Like any other mission trip, there was a lot on the agenda for our week in Dallas. One of my favorite daily activities we did was help out at a day camp for some of the local kids. These kids came from lower income families and knew very little about God. That's where we came in! We had so much fun with those kids and in only a week, I became very attached to my little group. We played games, did crafts, ate snack, danced, sang, and most importantly had Bible story time. I had an awesome group who really wanted to learn more about the Bible, which is always encouraging. I loved spending time with those precious little people and man, did they fill my heart with happiness!

 

 

 

I went with a fun group and we really enjoyed our time in Dallas. We stayed in a little apartment and slept on the floor. It wasn't glamorous, but it made for the perfect home during our stay. Our group cooked together, ate together, had daily devotionals together and we even got to go to a professional basketball game together!

 

 

I experienced one of my least "glamorous" mission trip moments on this trip. A lot of people think mission trips are so clean cut and glossed over based on the pictures they see or what other people tell them upon returning. The reality is that mission trips can also be really dirty and downright nasty! Our group helped clean out some government housing that had been abandoned. These people knew they couldn't pay rent and instead of just moving out, they decided to trash the places first. Just imagine going crazy and destroying your whole house while throwing food, trash, and any other nasty substance you can think of everywhere. We put on our gloves and went to work. It was an experience, but one I am thankful for. Talk about the lesson of humility.

 

We did a few other random things while we were there including helping organize a massive closet. Well, there was more to it than that. Basically, there was an organization that had a lot of donated clothes and we organized them into different sections, so that local people could come in and find what they needed. The clothes were free to the public and it was a really cool ministry. We also helped serve food to high school students and joined a local church that Sunday to aid with their Sunday School classes. It was pretty cool because their children's Sunday School classes actually met at different kid's houses each week. That's what you do when you don't have a big fancy church building like we are used to. The week put a lot of things in perspective for me.

 

 

 

I think this trip taught me that God can always use you, no matter what shape you are in, as long as you are available. He can also heal you and work in your life through the most unexpected circumstances. God is pretty awesome like that! This trip taught me to push back my emotions, so that I could do what God was calling me to. How often do we let our feelings get the best of us and we give up on something we know we should be doing? This trip taught me that God is bigger than my emotions and feelings. He can give me joy through anything and that joy can be spread to others. Joy isn't based on our present circumstances. Joy is something that the Lord gives us that no one and nothing can take away. And that's a gift worth spreading.

 

Ch-Ch-Changes

My husband recently told me that the longer he is married to me, the more he realizes how much I don't like change. This statement caught me off guard, but after thinking about it for a few seconds, I wholeheartedly agreed. I really don't like change.

They say that the only thing that remains constant in life is change. That it is really the one thing you can always depend on happening. The older I get, the more rapidly the changes come. In the past few years, I have had many, many friends get married, move, have babies, and change their whole lives; myself being one of them. My life has also been altered in hundreds of small and large ways over the years. And let's just say those changes weren't usually joyfully embraced. I have always struggled with things being different from what they once were. I like the comfort of routine and dependability. I cling tightly to the things and people that I love, expecting them to always be there. In fact because of that, I have major issues with giving up on any kind of friendship. I will put the effort into it until the very end, because I just can't accept losing a friend or things changing between us. Even if it's for the best.

This fear of change has been very present in my life recently. My very best friend just moved to Florida. She is the first friend I've had move to another state and I have to admit that saying it's been tough would be an understatement. I have really been having a hard time accepting this change and all the other changes that have come along with it. My brother is also interviewing with a company in Dallas, Texas. There is a good chance that he will be moving to Dallas very soon. My first reaction was pure happiness for him. I am really proud of him for going after what he wants. But once I realized that him moving away is a very real possibility, I instantly became on the verge of tears. It will be a tough change to deal with when the time comes. I am being forced to open up my eyes to the reality that I am getting older and people do move away from where they grew up especially at this age. Things aren't going to stay the same forever. This isn't a foreign concept to many, but to me it feels like another language entirely.

Coming face-to-face with my fear of change each day, I am learning that it is never going to go away. It's here for good, so I might as well embrace it. I must keep moving forward while letting certain people or situations go along the way. I am slowly accepting that it is actually healthy to allow change in my life. It's a good thing. Change has brought me to the place I am now and I must say I'm pretty darn happy here. The good things in life can't come without discomfort, without hard times, without change. So I will slowly loosen my grips and let go, knowing that the best changes are yet to come.

Fear

Fear - a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined; the feeling or condition of being afraid.

Fear is something that plagues each of us in one way or another every day. In this world, there are so many things to be scared of, more "what-ifs" than your mind can even bear to imagine. It's so easy to get bogged down in being afraid and living in that fear on a daily basis. We tend to get distracted from the "abundant" life God has planned for us and get stuck in the prison of fear instead. 

Sometimes I forget how real spiritual warfare is, until I get so caught up in fear that I am no longer focused on the things of God. In that moment, I realize that I have fallen right into that trap that I have been so desperately trying to avoid. Warfare is defined as "armed conflict between two massed enemies". And that is exactly what is going on. It is a war between God and Satan for our mind. I believe that fear is Satan's tool, his most powerful weapon against us. He uses it to distract us from what God would want us to do, from what we should be doing, from the true desires of our hearts. Satan uses fear to tear us down and to make us question what we already know to be true. He wants fear to DESTROY us, plain and simple. He wants us to get our minds off of the freedom and peace that comes from being in Christ, so that we are ineffective in the Kingdom of God. Once we turn our heads from the place of trusting God and keeping our minds focused on Him, we are in the devil's playground.

Thankfully, war isn't just one-sided. Yes, Satan does attack us with fear and doubt, but that doesn't mean that we can't fight back. We have the ability to fight back and WIN with God on our side. Fear is talked about all throughout the Bible and God gives us strategies and tactics on how to fight in this "war". That is the awesome thing about our God. He has lived on this Earth and He understands the struggles that we will have. Our God won't leave us empty-handed and He won't forsake us in this battle. He gives us just what we need to make it through each day unscathed. We can claim victory one battle at a time while leaving the ultimate victory up to Him. I have to constantly remind myself that Jesus has already WON the war. He has overcome everything that I could possibly be afraid of. So what's the point of being scared? Why am I fearful if I trust my God to rescue me like He has proven that He will do over and over again? 

For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of POWER, LOVE, and SELF-CONTROL. 

God promised us that in this world we will have trouble; there is no doubt about that. He also promised that He would be with us, fighting each and every struggle right alongside us, always. 

"You keep him in PERFECT PEACE whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You." -Isaiah 26:3