Mission Trips… In two months I leave for Haiti. WOW. That mean that in less than that… the Detroit Mission Trip. I’m starting to get nervous. Am I prepared for all the VBS stuff, what if I forget something… what about what I actually need? Yikes, when you’re a preparer like me… these things rattle in your head. If you’re not wired that way, you’re probably lucky Honestly, I’ve got about 90% of the stuff done for the mission trips, this weekend will be the push to get it all packed. And next week I have a busy week ahead. My time carved out will need to be deliberate because I know that it will come and go quickly. So I am asking for two things… one that you won’t be offended if I say “sorry, I can’t do something with you, but you can come and sit at my house and we can chat” (the good news in that is that I can always make a yummy dinner) because it is CRUCIAL to my well being that I take good care of myself. I won’t apologize for that. And two that you pray that my time is protected. I am mission minded and everything I do tends to be around the daily mission of my life and the mission trips I have planned and I’m always on Amazon, in target, checking ads, praying that by the grace of God this all works out because I’m a fruit loop and can mess things up in the blink of an eye! BUT GOD!Forgiveness… sometimes people hurt us. They say or do things that can feel like someone stuck a knife deep in our heart. Often I decide whether or not I will deal with them (meaning address it) or work it out with God. I’m learning not to go back to old habits or put into practice the good new habits I’ve picked up and do what God says to do. There is nothing that is needed from the other person that keeps me from forgiving them. Though if I’m honest, it seems that if their intentions were pure that it’s easier to forgive them. That shouldn’t be the way it is, but it is (I’ve got to work on that!). Yesterday I almost puked because I was crying so hard. Sheesh. It’s been a long time since I’ve done that. I wanted to come home… and eat. Stuffing. Stuff all that pain down. And I had these amazingly beautiful Fruit of the spirit cookies. One box for me, one box as a gift. I think at that moment I could have eaten BOTH boxes. You might think I’m kidding but one look at my butt, you’d know I wasn’t. Instead I hopped on the elliptical (I hadn’t done my exercise anyway for the day) and grabbed my bible, read some, prayed some. And honestly, I felt better. Eating those cookies would have not done that. Probably made me feel much worse. I would have not connected with God, I had good endorphins, and I would have felt guilty (and I would have had to log all of them in My fitness pal only reminding me of a dumb choice!). I woke up this morning deciding that I will forgive the hurt and move on. Forgiveness is a choice. My choice. To give what I’ve received.
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