I don't think I can remember a time that I did not desire to be serving in foreign missions. I gave my heart to Jesus at a very young age and have always been thrilled to hear about missionaries and, better yet, to hear them tell about their adventures themselves. I have never thought, "Oh God, don't send me!" So when the opportunity came up to FINALLY go and serve I only had one reservation. My daughter. God had blessed me with an amazing little girl through adoption. She is my priority and I can not just jump on a plane to "wherever" without considering her first. The great thing, (even though it still makes me wonder how), is that God loves her even more than I do. He had already designed her into His plan.
The thing I had specifically asked God to do was to call Grace. I wanted her to be personally called to the work in Guatemala. Grace struggles with many insecurities and deals with abandonment issues. I did not want to make things harder for her in these areas by moving her away from everything and everyone she knows and dearly loves. So I asked God to show me that moving Grace back to the homeland that she had not seen since she was 4 months old and really had no connection with, would not destroy her already fragile sense of security and that she herself would have a heart for reaching her people.
We had the opportunity to do a 10 week trial of sorts over summer break. It was the perfect amount of time for Grace to "get her feet wet". Our first couple of weeks in Guatemala were a whirlwind! We met so many new people and of course everything and everyone was foreign. It was a rough time for my daughter. While she had many fun times, she was ready to go home! Every evening when we would go to our room to settle down for the night the questions and the tears would start. "When are we going home?" "How many more days?" "Why are we even here?" "Who's idea was this anyway?!?!"
Oh, my heart would ache... Ache for my daughter and ache because every day we were there, I felt more strongly that we were supposed to return. So, I comforted my daughter and I prayed. And I prayed...
Before long the nightly tears subsided and were replaced with statements like, "I bet Alberto is going to miss me when I am gone." and "Vilma said I am her best friend but I had to tell her I am only here for the summer." These statements eventually turned to, "Oh what am I going to do when I don't get to hear Alberto singing every morning?" and "I am going to miss (insert several names) so much!"
And then one day when I was really wrestling with just knowing that God had something for us to do in Guatemala and realizing that my daughter was still set on this being a 10 week stint.... Out of the blue she says, "Mom, can I talk to you alone?" When we got off by ourselves she said, "I've been thinking... I think we are supposed to stay in Guatemala. Like mooove here." I tried to choke back the tears as I asked her why she thought that. (I am choking them back as I type this!) she replied, "Because I think it is important that we tell the orphans how much God loves them and help the people in the villages that don't have food or shoes and let them know that they are special." I just hugged my daughter for a long time and said, "You know Grace, I think you're right."
Every day since then I have thanked God for this very specific answer to prayer....
The second story I wanted to share with you is how God confirmed that we would be serving with the new Project HOPEFUL ministry called Walk on Water Initiative.
Since we were privileged to serve in Guatemala with Kiel and Carolyn Twitmeyer along with 10 of their 15 children, we also had the privilege of really getting to know this wild, zany, Jesus lovin bunch! Carolyn was telling me how God kept laying the words "Walk on Water." on her heart. While walk on water had been a theme in their lives for many years, Carolyn was not sure exactly what the message meant for Guatemala. Yes, of course, something to do with stepping out in faith but the full picture of exactly what that entailed for Guatemala had not been revealed to her. So, it was just something that I knew God was doing in Carolyn's heart and I joined her in praying that the meaning would be made clear to her.
Fast forward to after Grace and I returned home from our summer in Guatemala. Many awful things were taking place, and the Twietmeyer family seemed to be being attacked at every angle. Their whole family was under fire and barely holding their heads above water as they were trying to make sense of WHAT ON EARTH was going on. I was conversing with Carolyn through Facebook messages and on September 20th sent this message to her:
"Please tell Kiel that I will also be praying specifically for him as he is leading his family through this storm. Tell him to keep his eyes on JESUS and he will be able to not only navigate the storm, but WALK ON WATER!"
Now my daughter knew absolutely nothing about any of this. Not the "walk on water" message that Carolyn was getting, not the trauma that was going on in Guatemala, or any of the private messages that had been going back and forth between Carolyn and I. In fact, Grace had spent the previous night with my sister and I was heading to meet them and my mom for lunch. While we were waiting for our food, Grace was drawing on the kids menu. She proudly held up her picture and proclaimed, "Mommy, look what I drew! It is a picture of me and you WALKING ON WATER!"
It was a beautiful confirmation. Grace and I will indeed be heading back to Guatemala. We will be stepping out in faith and serving with an amazing ministry that God has had in the works for years. Please check out this new ministry of Project Hopeful, the Walk on Water Initiative at http://www.projecthopeful.org/walk-on-water-initiative
I would like to ask you to consider partnering with us. We need funding and quickly. With a proposed leave date of sometime in January, we need funding for everything from plane tickets to beds to sleep in. We also need monthly partners who are willing to commit to giving every month toward our living expenses. This is a great opportunity for you to do life with us in Guatemala and be a part of changing someone's world! Please consider how you can be a part of this ministry and join Grace and I in a faith walk out on the water! http://www.projecthopeful.org/walk-on-water-initiative/guatemala-carol-wright-support
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