Facing Fears - Missionary Style

Teach me your way, Lord, that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. ~ Psalm 86:11

Camper enjoying cuddle time with God

You might have noticed I went missing last week. I was on a short term mission trip to a poor rural area at the border of West Virginia and Kentucky. The experience was awesome!

Some of the highlights included 1) Leading worship for a kids camp, including crazy dances and Dina's classic "cuddle time with God." 2) Meeting a woman in a trailer park with no furniture and completely furnishing her home within a few hours. 3) Getting to play extreme make-over including shopping, making curtains, and decorating to turn a tiny pantry into a cute camo themed room for a thirteen year old boy, and being able to do the big reveal on his birthday. 4) Seeing my youngest child stepping out of his comfort zone in ministry, quiet time, and praying out loud in a group.

Extreme make-over

Actually, stepping out of our comfort zones and facing our fears was the theme of this trip and of our devotional quiet time studies. And sure enough, I found a few fears of my own. Fear of pain and discomfort mostly, which aren't fears that I had in my younger years. But as I mentioned in my last post, being valiant doesn't mean a lack of fear. It means a willingness to overcome those fears.

So I've decided that I'm not going to ever become one of those older women who make excuses in order to keep their lives cushy and under their control. I want to grow into a tough, sassy, fearless old brod. LOL. Like my Aunt Dolores who still goes on international mission trips in her 90s!!! Now that's my kind of old lady.

My youngest son

We also learned that fear is important, because it is a mirror of what is going on deep inside of us. Rather than repress our fears, we should look them in the face and get to the root. And finally we relearned the importance of the fear of God.