Our red-head goes on a journey {part 6}

Fun sights from Africa; otherwise, known as really learning how to use your head.

Clearly, we Americans have overlooked how much our spines and necks can come in very handy!!
{These pictures can each be seen larger and clearer by just clicking on each picture!)

What can a teenager do for God in Africa??? {part 5}

Play games with the children during a midweek service....

{Simply click on the pictures below to see them bigger and clearer!}

Teach a missionary story during Vacation Bible School....

Make crafts with children during Vacation Bible School....

Use her new skill of making animal shaped balloons

for prizes for good behavior in Sunday School...

Build relationships with new friends....

Our red-head goes on a journey {part 4}

The trip was long and grueling.

8 hour flight from Dallas to London.

Layover in London.

6 hour flight from London to Accra, Ghana.

One night in an African hotel before an 8-hour bus ride to Techiman, Ghana.

We were relieved to learn that it was smooth and uneventful.

No one lost a single piece of luggage.

No one had gotten sick {yet.}

Everyone made it through every check point with every piece of documentation in place.

When Lexi and the rest of the team arrived at their final destination,

she found she would be staying with 3 other girls and one lady team member at a national pastor's home.

They were all so happy to get showers (cold showers felt great since they had no air conditioning),
and go to bed.
Sleeping was a bit of a challenge that first night with the 5-hour time difference from home,
only ceiling fans and no air conditioning, and the dogs sleeping on the front porch that would randomly
howl and fight through-out the night!
Then there was the Muslim call to prayer at 4 am that was broadcast throughout the village
via the megaphone like speakers mounted on poles.

In the morning, they lifted their eyes.....they looked on the "fields."
And they were really...truly white unto harvest.
{John 4:35}

In ways they had never seen before.

Our red-head goes on a journey {part 3}

**Continuing the series on our oldest daughter's amazing journey this summer.

We had a couple weeks worth of repairs done on our house in August, and 

then a special birthday to celebrate.

Trying to get caught up on all the journaling of all the grace.

Thank you for understanding.**

{Lexi with other girls on the team with Abby photobombing on the right!}

Send-off day finally arrived.

We had prepared for this day for nearly 10 months.

We had sent out 50 letters to family and friends asking for their prayer and financial support,

and the response had been overwhelming.

Some families sent $300, 

some $25,

some $100,

some $10,

one sent $500,

and all sent their prayers as well!

We could feel that on that day.

She was a bit anxious, but excited.

I was so very excited for her, but anxious.

I was not at all worried for her safety.....I can only attribute that to the peace of God that passeth all understanding.

But I was feeling emotional because I knew she was embarking on a journey that could possibly set the course of her destiny.

She has been telling us for awhile now that she thinks the Lord might be calling her to the mission field.

I was excited for her to get her feet wet in that ministry.

To see what missionary life is like......on a very short term, more controlled basis.

To see what it was like to live without air conditioning,

and limited food options,

and limited medical resources,

and physically taxing travel situations,

and limited communication with her family,

spiritual challenges,

as well as amazing spiritual victories!

I was excited for her to experience how thrilling it is to travel and see parts of the world we've only read about.

To see parts of the world that I've dreamed of seeing since I was 11 years old.

I felt like I sending her off on the adventure I always hoped to have,

and was praying that she would catch the importance of this journey.

{The whole crew saying goodbye...minus one wandering sister.}

Our red-head goes on a journey {part 2}

How do you prepare a teenager to see a world she has never seen before?

Of course there are the practical things.

Finding a local place that accepts a passport application.

Learning that we would have to send off for an original birth certificate (that we never needed before) from the state we don't live in anymore.

Figuring out all the documentation necessary to apply for a visa necessary for entry into the country.

Sending the brand new passport and original birth certificate back to Washington, D.C with lots of prayer that it returns in time for the trip.

Researching and praying about all the recommended vaccinations.

Deciding what she would and would not receive.

Finding the local health department that gives the mandatory yellow fever vaccination along with documentation that is necessary to enter the country.

It was an amazing opportunity for all us parents to have the missionary Lexi's team would be working with in Ghana at our church for several months in the fall.
He did several training sessions with all the team members as well as for the family members.
We were able to learn some songs in the Twe (Tree) language, as well as sample some of the food typically served in that region.
We learned about malaria and the different medications available to prevent it.
We learned about the appropriate clothing to wear in a culture that is predominately muslim.
He also taught us how the people there worship many gods and often view Jesus Christ simply as another god to worship.

Lexi also spent a couple days in Child Evanglism seminars and learned how to do these:

Then, of course, there was the physical packing:

She needed bedding.

And craft supplies for VBS.

And American OTC remedies for bodily upsets.

And bug spray....

with deet.

And lots of sunscreen.....

because she is a ginger.

Clothes....for 15 days....with no guarantee of laundry facilities.

Snacks.

And anti-bacterial wipes.....

for Mom's sake.

But was it all enough?

How do you prepare your child to see the world...through the eyes of the Loving Father who created it?

To feel His heartbeat for those souls who may never hear of His work completed on the cross that they might spend eternity with Him.

To see past poverty....

Pride....

Color....

Smells....

Wealth.....

Cultural differences?

To see what our God sees?

That we all depend on that next breath, and sleep, and a little nourishment.

And that often what seems to widen the gap between us is what actually draws us very near to each other.......that gnawing void in each and every human, no matter what color or country native we are.

That need for Jesus. 

Our red-head goes on a journey {part 1}

Over a year ago, our oldest daughter came home from youth group at church nearly breathless with excitement.
"Do you know where the mission's trip is going to be next year (2013)?"
"GHANA....in Africa."
"Can I go, Mom?"

She was not yet 15.
But then, this child has always been fearless.
I once told my husband (who sometimes hesitates with a touch of fear),

"Fear is simply denying the presence of God in your life."

Our only "ginger" has rarely struggled with fear....of anything.
In fact, I've often described her as a  wild horse that we have been given with a long-flowing, tangled, red mane.  We are simply along for the ride and struggle everyday to keep control of the reins!!

From infancy, this child has thought outside the box.
She got bored quickly with her toys.
She loved to play outside.
She hated naps.
She seemed to hate sleep in general.
She talked ALL the time.
She was a social butterfly who loved people....ALL people.
And, she was constantly doing something with something in her hands.
This was the child who made a donation box from an oatmeal carton and went door-to-door in our neighborhood to collect money to help those affected by Hurricane Katrina...in 2005...when she was 8.
She came home with $45...which we took to our local Kroger's donation center.
This is the child who just a year ago, with tears in her eyes, made me take her to a place where she could use her own money to buy a homeless man some lunch.
He told us we were "angels."
Gifts.
These were all gifts for this Mama.
To count the ways God was working in her heart....we had nothing to do with this.

When she was not yet 13, a group of youth started preparing for what would have been her very first opportunity to go on an international mission trip.
We thought there was no-way we were sending her that young.
Not when she rarely had her head out of the clouds.

But I knew she would be chomping at the bit to go at the very next opportunity!!

We had been preparing her for this.
Praying for God to give her a heart to think outside of herself.
To want to share her faith with those who might never have an opportunity to hear.
To not be overly focused with material possessions and having all the latest designer bags and creams and lotions and bling.
We want her to be less entangled with the things of this world, so she can go wherever God might call her to go and be able to focus on people.
To learn to do more with less.
To use her ingenious imagination and figure out ways to serve Him with what He's already given her.

When we trust that He is a good God, and we open our hand to receive the gifts He gives us everyday, we learn to surrender to His will for us.

"I either take the "what is it?" manna with thanks, eat the mystery of the moment with trust, and am nourished another day - or refuse it....and die.  Jesus calls me to surrender and there's nothing like releasing fears and falling into peace.  It terrifies, true.  But it exhilarates......
There is no joy without trust!
To the Enfleshed Yes who said yes to this moment and yes to last year's illness and yes to the cracks of my childhood and yes to the nail and yes to my name in the Book of Life, hear me say YES!
Not "I'm worried."
Not "I'm stressed out."
Not "I'm anxious."
Not "I'm too afraid."
Hear me say thank you.
Hear me say YES!  
Watch me live a life of yes. To all that was and is and is to come.
The power of sin and death and fear-sent-from-the-Enemy are forever ended because we can trust in the bridge even it it's caving, in God even when it's black, in manna-nourishment even when we don't know what it is.
The God whom we thank for fulfilling the promises of the past will fulfill His promises again.
In Christ, the answer to the questions of every moment is always Yes."
~Ann Voskamp One Thousand Gifts

So, we said YES!!

"Straining gnats, Swallowing Camels"

"Free from the law--O happy condition!

Jesus has bled, and there is remission;

Cursed by the law and bruised by the fall,

Grace has redeemed us once for all."

P.P Bliss

Today will be my final installment in this little series about Spiritual Abuse.
This has been such a burden on my heart in recent months as I've become more aware of what this actually looks like in comparison to our loving, gracious, Heavenly Father.
I love the title (that came straight from the book I've been referencing!), and have found this topic particularly helpful in spotting a religious system that is "Pharisaical" and potentially abusive.

Jesus Himself had a lot to say to the Pharisees.

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!

For you tithe mint and dill and cummin,

and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law:

justice and mercy and faithfulness;

but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.

You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!

Matthew 23:23, 24"

"Under Levitical law, both the camel and the gnat were considered ceremonially unclean.
Obviously, it was easier to avoid swallowing a camel than a gnat.
Gnats were a tougher matter.  You had to work to avoid them.
Bugs were everywhere.  In the making of wine, for instance, there was no refrigeration, no filtering system, and the pressing of grapes was done by foot in large, open vats.
A significant number of "unclean" guests made their way into the wine.  Still pretending they could avoid any unclean intrusion, the Pharisees sifted their wine through their teeth and then picked out the bugs with their fingers.  The meaning of Jesus' confrontation could not be lost on them.
'You put incredible amounts of energy into things of little consequence (dill, mint, and cummin),
but you swallow the camel (immorality, injustice, lying, hypocrisy).
You have inverted spiritual values.'"

If I've seen it once, I've seen it a thousand times.

Listening to southern gospel music (which actually takes the work of Christ too lightly and has too contemporary of a beat) is considered unacceptable but having a lack of discipline with your health and being a glutton is completely overlooked.

Going to the movies requires repentance and a trip to the altar on Sunday morning, but treating your wife like a business partner or your hired maid (complete with derogatory jokes and comments) is considered funny.

Wearing a suit and tie (for men) or certain length of dress/skirt (for women) is mandatory for acceptable Christianity, but having a closet sexual addiction (pornography, molesting young girls in the church) is never addressed or "swept under the rug."

"In the church where I (David Johnson) grew up, we very carefully monitored external behaviors, carefully sifting out even such 'evils' as bowling.  I used to wonder why bowling so evil, while being a dried-up old sourpuss was okay.  Having long hair, for men, was definitely a sign that you were damned to hell, but malicious gossip was no big deal."

Are you a part of a "church" that has a lengthy list of "unspoken" rules you have to follow if you're to be considered a "good Christian?"   Don't get me wrong here.  It is important to follow scriptural guidelines and principles when it comes to our daily life.  I'm not dismissing the Ten Commandments nor the commands in scripture that God has laid out for all believers to live obedient and holy lives.  

Lives separate....set apart....for Him.

But this thing of man made rules that have been passed down through the years, that add weight to "religion," weight that Jesus Christ never intended for us to have to bear.

His death was meant to set us FREE from all the laws.....not strap us down.

Fill us with joy.....not to burden us.

Surely we all understand that we are not meant to take advantage of this freedom:

"What then?  shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace?

God forbid.

Romans 6:15"

But surely we need to understand that "walking the walk, and talking the talk" do not make us more acceptable in God's sight.....only in the sight of  "Christians."

"When all is said and done, abusive spirituality is more interested in supporting doctrines (spiritual mindsets, mentalities, ways of viewing God) than in supporting people.

It is not interested in learning the true conditions in which God builds a living relationship with people -- by grace, for free, to become a wellspring of inner spiritual resource.  For God Himself is interested in men and women finding the right way to connect with and draw life from Him."

(All quotes taken from "The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse" by David Johnson and Jeff VanVonderen)