Three weeks from today, we will be in the air, somewhere between Detroit and Paris. I am so excited, and this trip that has dangled out there in "the future" seems oh so real right now. I have gotten all of my shots, will finish my oral typhoid vaccine tomorrow (that stuff causes the worst dry mouth I have every experienced), my food has been purchased (we take our own breakfast and lunch), and my clothes have been put aside. What do I do now???? I continue to study the C2C (creation to Christ) story, continue to read the discipleship stories we will share, continue to pray for open ears and softened hearts, AND I begin a blog countdown.
Earlier this year I attempted to do the "Thousand Gifts" list of 1000 things I was thankful for. I embraced the concept of Eucharisteo--"the celebration of grace and the recognition of the power of gratitude" (Ann Voskamp). I have always been aware of the grace of God and, for years, have recognized and thanked God for the many blessings, large and small, that HE gives me. I failed at the list. See, I'm a rule follower and a goal setter--it's that Wilkinson side of me. So I did the logical thing and decided I would be thankful for 1000 things in one year and that means I would need to be thankful for 3.739 things each day. I am flexible enough to round that up to 4, which gave me the flexibility of missing a day occasionally and the possibility of being an overachiever, reaching my goal early or exceeding 1000 gifts. (I know, I know, it's not attractive to be competitive with God!) The problem was, there were days when I couldn't think of 4 authentic things to be thankful for, but I didn't want to mess up my system. You'll be relieved to hear that I gave myself grace and I have settled into a "system" of recording my blessings, that works for me.
So, 21 insights about the trip in 21 days??? Nope...I'm going to surprise you... Who knows how many insights I will list each day and who knows if I will blog each day? I'm going rogue! I might just have to go into negative numbers...
21. I'm so thankful for my salvation. If I were not a child of God, I would not understand the urgency of sharing HIS love and the hope we have in Christ Jesus, to lost souls.
20. I'm thankful to be a member of a Missions Minded Church.
19. I am thankful that my husband is supporting me in this trip, despite the fact that I hurt him deeply by saying I wanted to go on my own. I'm thankful that he has forgiven me for hurting him!
18. I am thankful that plans have changed. What started out as a "crafts with the ladies" trip has, out of necessity, changed to a discipleship trip. When the trip was planned, there were no female believers in the villages with whom we will work. That has changed. There are several brave women believers who are waiting to learn more of the bible, so they can share.
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