Go!

As I write this, we are just 6 weeks out from leaving for Haiti.  We went last week to get our shots and meds from the travel clinic and that made it seem a lot more real!  We’ve been praying and planning for so long, and it seemed so far away, it is now hard to believe it is coming this quickly!  Our group has been meeting sporadically for some devotional time together, and in addition to the great fellowship time with moms and kids, its been fun to learn more about Haiti, the people there and what our role will be once we get there.  We spent a lot of time last month talking about the fact that we aren’t going to be able to “fix” things for the Haitians that we encounter.  When we leave, they will still be without many of the basic necessities of life that we find unimaginable.  For many of  Type A control freaks in the group, that is a hard thing to wrap our hearts and minds around.   Reading Mother Theresa’s book No Greater Love has helped put some of this in perspective for me.  One quote that struck me was this: “We must not be afraid to proclaim Christ’s love and to love as He loved.  In the work we have to do it does not matter how small and humble it may be, make it Christ’s love in action”.  Our group of moms and kids from EP may be serving in only the smallest of ways, and we won’t be able to solve major problems, but we can sure share Christ’s love!!

I’d be dishonest, if I didn’t admit that as the trip looms closer, I have moments of anxiety and fear.  I love how God meets us where we are and gives us exactly what we need in those moments.  This year, 3 of us moms from our group have been studying the gospel of Matthew in BSF.  Its been such a wonderful reminder of what a role model Jesus is for us in His reliance on prayer, focus on service, and obedience to His Father’s will.  The final words of Matthew, though I’ve read them a thousand times before, struck right to my soul this spring as I prepare for this trip:  “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age”    How good of God to remind me in my fears that not only is He always with us, but He made us to GO!  This is exactly what I should be doing in this season of my life.  And though I may feel inadequate and overwhelmed, I go with HIS authority.  He didn’t say to go and solve all the problems of the nations, he just tells us to go and make disciples and to teach what He has commanded.  And our group will do that joyfully!!!

~Angie Ott