send a girl to africa, that's my motto

it seems to me that God delights in delighting us. i think he loves it when we pray for a solution so he can show us how he will provide in ways we didn't even consider.

i was asking God for help to come up with the funding for the mission he called us to in africa. i believe that if he's asked us to go there, he's going to pave the way to get there. so i asked him to do just that.

i was ready for my car to take another beating, but this time he used people in our lives we didn't expect in a totally [seemingly] random solution that was the furthest thing from our minds.

see, we were getting a massage. (i know, right? answered prayer on a massage table?)

and we were telling our wonderful masseuses about us going to the village of hope in uganda this summer, and about the kids and what they've been through, and about how God has provided some of our travel immunizations for free, etc. and we got onto the topic of raising support.

and out of the blue, they each offered to donate a one hour massage we could give away in hopes of helping raise awareness of our need for donations for the trip. we would have fallen off our tables had we not already been rubbed into them. i remember being suddenly quiet and thinking, "trace! don't be rude - say something!" but i was in such shock at their generosity and willingness to offer it that i was simply speechless.

jon and i were giddy.

a few days later we started thinking and praying through how we would use their offer to raise awareness and i thought - i'd better call them to verify. i don't want to get the details wrong and take advantage of their generosity.

and when i talked to one of them, they upped the offer and said, i'll also throw in a 1-hour personal training session. i was stunned again and said - thank you. thank you! i am blown away by your generosity. and she said,

hey! send a girl to africa, that's my motto.

so there you have it. two wonderful, unsuspecting people in our lives, suddenly in the vortex of an answer to prayer to send a girl [and her husband] to africa. God chose them to be a part of a plan that is bigger than any of us. and they complied. they joined in.

i'm so blessed in so many ways regarding this trip that i can hardly portray it here. suffice it to say... i believe in You, Lord! for your provision and your creativity and for the answers you have stored up just waiting for me to pray for them so you can rain them down on us. i believe in what this mission stands for: showing the love of your son, Jesus Christ, to a nation who is desperate for him. and i, in my own desperation, get to play a part in that mission. i believe in you - that if you call me there, you will send this girl to africa.

i believe.

sooo... want a massage or a personal training session?