Here's Elliot playing "going to Paraguay" this morning. As the year comes to a close, consider giving us a gift to get us to Paraguay. www.simusa.org/give #044875. Merry Christmas!
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(Becky) Much of my day is now spent sorting through old papers, files, and generally a lot of junk we have collected over the years. In my sorting and throwing, I discovered these notes and brainstorm of what became our family mission statement. Probably 5 or 7 years ago, Aaron and I spent time overnight in a hotel praying and talking and writing. Our goal for the weekend was to come away with a mission statement for our family. A vision of who we believed God wanted us to be at that time. A way to keep our eyes fixed on God and His goals for our lives. I wish I could say that we posted that mission statement and memorized it and lived it out to its fullest. It's lost. I spent hours and hours one day trying to figure out where it went. Yet, the time spent narrowing our focus and realigning our vision was so valuable at a time of our life that seemed chaotic and yet mundane at the same time, maybe a bit directionless. It was so encouraging to find these chicken scratches and realize that here we are, today, realizing some of these God-given dreams for our future. What an encouragement and a reminder of how God places us and guides us for a certain time and place. As we look back on our journey, these are the stories we remember. Join us as we take a trip down memory lane. Last November, we were set on moving to Ethiopia. Yet, no matter what we tried, we couldn't make it work. Our visas wouldn't work. The placements kept falling through. We needed to go back to get more schooling. The roadblocks kept cropping up. Notice the word "we." We were ready, but God had different plans for us. "We are ready, God! What's going on?" "Trust in the Lord with all of your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all of your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your path." Proverbs 3:5-6 When we remembered and were challenged to rely completely on God for our plans, we were able to allow the Ethiopia "door" to close and Paraguay opened. Look at the Christmas 2016 card above. This is our object to remember that God is in charge and we do not lean on our own understanding. We made Christmas cards and wrote out all of our plans. We were 'moving to Ethiopia at the beginning of 2018'-- except the cards were delivered blank! The front was just the template. No family picture. It says it's from the Jamison family. At the time I was frustrated, called the company, got our money back, didn't send out our cards. Now, we look back and smile. I don't think God wanted those cards to be sent out!
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