The End is Only the Beginning

Walking where Jesus walked, going where Jesus went, feeling a small portion of what Jesus may have felt, seeing a little bit of the plan and detail that went into saving the world from deep and embedded sin. It's gut-wrenching and it's liberating. It's raw and it's beautiful.

It's hard to come back from the rich encounter that we just experienced. All of us coming back to our jobs, whether full time mommy or full time workplace, or even both. All of us struggling, at least mildly, with total body exhaustion and jet lag as the cherry on top. And the questions have come...
"What was your favorite part?"
"What did you learn?"
"How was it?"
"Do you feel different?"
"What was it like to be in Israel?"
"Can you describe everything?"

Forgive us if we look at you with vacant stares or give general answers like, "it was great" or "it was really amazing" or "God really showed up"! We promise to give you more detail, insight, and, undoubtedly, pictures as our processing abilities are reinstated with rest and time.

We will never understand why a Perfect, Gracious, Merciful, Just, and LOVING God would ever do what He did for us. We will never see all of the connections and details that God outlined for His people, starting with the Israelites and extending to all nations and all peoples, to you and to me. We will never be able to fully describe the way God was present and working in our lives and our team on this trip, but we do hope to give you snapshots into all of these areas. We hope that you will be moved by our stories enough to realize that God is at work in our world; even a world filled with darkness, evil, sadness, and confusion. We hope that we can convey the depths of His love for each person from the ways we were able to experience it.  And we KNOW that God's love is overwhelmingly beautiful and sacrificial.

So as we wrap up this trip, say goodbye as a team, and step back into your lives we ask that you'd walk along with us and continue your love, support, and prayers for us. We realize that the end of this trip is only the beginning of the great and wondrous works that the Lord has planned for our lives. We ask that you'd pray we wouldn't be the same, that we'd fall in love with our Savior more than we ever have in the past, but that we won't just ride on the high of this great experience, but let it sink in deeply. We ask that it would take root and grow into a relationship that honors and benefits everyone around us, but mostly our precious Lord and Savior. 

Thank you so much for caring for us and following along with us. We can't thank YOU enough for supporting us through your prayers and love. It was felt and we are beyond grateful.

Below are the groups from WLDF that were represented on the trip (as well as the faithful men!):

The men. 

First Thymes

Forget Me Nots 

Shamrocks 

Forsythias 

Lilies

Crocuses 

Orchids