“Be careful what you pray for,
because one of your kids may become a missionary and move far away.”
Someone actually said this to me, many years ago and I am happy to say I decided to ignore that advice. The prayer I’ve prayed for my children since the time I knew I was going to have them, was that they would love the Lord their God. I knew I would take them to church and talk to them about God but my most earnest prayer was that they would make my God, the God of the Bible their God.
Well, the time has come to see if I really stand by that prayer, the one that God has so graciously answered thus far. My daughter Courtney, born a little 3-pound preemie with a heart condition, who had open-heart surgery at 11 months old, surgery on her eyes at age 2, a girl that is EXTREMELY cautious in life has made the God of the Bible her God. So much so that she is taking off on January 8th to Australia to study Evangelism/Discipleship and to take this information to the “…ends of the earth.” She is going to spend this season of her life being a missionary, moving far away, just like the lady I mentioned earlier warned me would happen!!! Praise the Lord. Of course I am going to miss Courtney, but I think that my excitement and awe for her choice to follow God’s leading trumps my sadness that she is going to be so far away.
I have been tearing up a lot in the last week thinking about her, not because I am sad, but because I am so amazed at how God is moving in her life. How blessed I am to be the mother of this wonderful young women. How filled with astonishment I am at how God has made Himself known through preparing my sick little preemie girl for this Divine assignment.
Talking about God answering prayer and guiding our life journey is easy to do, but recognizing when God is doing it is just sometimes more than my heart can take. The phrase, “tears are words the heart can’t say,” comes to mind. Just listening to Courtney in the car today talking about how cool it is that God has paved the way for her, brought tears to my eyes. I told her I couldn’t really talk about it right then because crying and driving don’t mix well.
God has so beautifully orchestrated her life. Not coincidentally in 7th grade Courtney did a project on Australia. Also not coincidentally there is a girl from Texas who is going to be traveling with Courtney to YWAM Australia, they are going to meet up in California, this girl is from Ireland and travels internationally often, God used Facebook to connect these two girls!! God has placed people strategically in Courtney’s life to encourage her to just “do it!” And the time has come.
Acts 13:47
For this is what the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’
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