Vision

This trip is the perfect example of thinking that I know how God is going to work…and then realizing that God’s ways are far above mine! Six months ago, writing a post about the vision for The Road Trip would have been a relatively easy task. Yet God has been rocking my world, turning it upside, and challenging me to see my life differently. So, as I sit down to write out the vision for the trip, I am finding it difficult to find words. Does that mean that I am lacking vision? Absolutely not. In fact, I have spent hours thinking, praying, and talking about this. Somehow, putting it into words in a post isn't as easy as I expected.

If I were to boil all those hours of thoughts and prayers down to one sentence, I would say the vision of the road trip is to spend a year intentionally focused on serving others and seeing the country that God chose as "my" country. 

Missions overseas is extremely important. God is doing amazing things around the globe! Yet that's not where I feel called during this season of my life. I love THIS country, MY country. And I want to serve here first. I want to minister to the struggling and broken in my own "backyard." After that, I will see where God leads!

What will the trip look like?

A lot of this "intentional serving" will happen through different non-profit organizations:
 There are multiple week-long retreats that Joni and Friends runs for families with kids who have disabilities or for wounded warriors who need a healing time away with their families. I am passionate about the chance to give these hurting people a chance to refresh and refocus. Joni and Friends also has regional offices that I will contact to see if there are any churches or families that need help for a night. There is another organization that has monthly respite nights for family with children who have disabilities. If the timing works, I would love to help them out too! Jill's House in Washington DC offers overnight respite care. At a minimum, I would love to see the facility and the ministry in action. If they have needs, lending a hand is definitely a possibility. :)
Another organization I would love to serve with is Habitat for Humanity, especially in the hospitality sector of what the operation. My body likely could not hold up to the heavy construction, but I would love to help out in a way that is possible for me!
Ronald McDonald houses and crisis pregnancy centers are some other likely possibilities that I am exploring. 

But more than that I want to spend this time available to God, listening to His directions and obeying. Over the past few years God has shown me countless times that true service is not something that I can create or force, but rather something that the Lord guides. I've had the chance to help a woman pay for a hotel room for her and her kids. I've bought food for a hungry man outside a store...actually more than once.... I've seen God use me to encourage and bless. It's one of the reasons I love where I live. People think I stayed in California because I fell in love with the weather. But, while I do like the weather, it's actually the people who kept me here. The people I know, but even more so the people I encounter around me. Hardly a day goes by when I do not see someone who is homeless. It keeps poverty and brokenness on the forefront of my mind. These instances force me out of my selfish bubble on a regular basis and draw me closer to the God I love. 

And that same driving reason that kept me in California after my graduation is the reason that I am going to leave California for a year...and see who else God wants me to reach.

The vision of the trip is to have an interruptible plan. To allow God to use me wherever I may be: a Joni and Friends retreat, DisneyWorld, or a gas station in the middle of no where. What will that fully look like? I would be foolish to say I clearly know. Gods plan will be so much bigger than mine.

So, as I said at the beginning, do I have a vision? Absolutely. Reaching the broken. Helping families who have children with disabilities find refreshment. Ministering to those in homelessness or poverty. Giving hope to families whose children are diagnosed with cancer. Loving whoever God shows me to love. 
Is it entirely something I understand? Nope. 
Am I excited to find out and have you share in the adventure? 100% YES



(Please note: although I used first person in this account, Alyssa and I have the same heart and have had many discussions about this together.)

Come Join Us!

This trip is much bigger than us.

Much much bigger.

Alyssa and I reflect on that almost every single day. And each time we return to the fact that God is even bigger than the trip!

And when it is hard to remember that, God always brings someone to grab ahold of the vision and join us on the journey. I cannot even begin to express how valuable these people have been in the journey. There are people who have been on this journey with us since before it was even a formed idea...and each time I post on Facebook groups, someone new seems to jump on board! I love that.

This is about more than Alyssa. This is about more than me.

This is about God working through us to bless others.

And my prayer is that through this blog, all who read it will be encouraged and challenged. Yes, in the coming months I will be posting about fundraisers in order to make this trip financially possible, but I don't want that to deter people away. Our desire is to share this journey with all of you! There will be posts about Gods work in the preparations, but even more posts as we hit the road.

Let me share with you some of the crazy, amazing stuff God has done so far!

When I was wondering if this was supposed to be my focus for the month of February, I was praying and decided to visit a blog I only occasionally visit. At the bottom of the post I was reading there was a link to another article. In this article was a link to an organization that works with families with kids who have disabilities! I clicked on it...and the area that they serve fit like a puzzle piece into the area of the US that we had no contacts for! Wow. Confirmation!

After I decided that would be my focus for February, someone invited me to join a missions-focused Facebook group. Through there I found the encouragement to fight through my sense of overwhelmedness and actually map out a rough draft route! Through that group I have found courage and grace. (And the idea to do these blog posts...)

Then, when I was feeling discouraged about the huge amount of money that we would need to raise, God sent someone on Facebook who fully sees the vision--and wants to help! God had been stirring her heart to help people in missions for awhile. She chose us. Amazing.  More about that later :) stay tuned!

Not only have all of these things happened, but we also have the opportunity to meet with a missions pastor at our church to share with him our vision. This is something we have prayed about for months and months--and is finally happening! God is so good. And His timing is perfect.

Finally, the email this week in Jon Acoff's 30 Days of Hustle group that I have been a part of since January was about considering how others could benefit from your dream. Through this, I realized that I had had this on my heart for awhile, but never expressed it to those around me. (And I had a cancelation at work, so I had time to write this!)

God is a faithful God.

He has been at work.

Come and join us--and discover what else God has in store!

A Spark

A requirement. That’s what I saw it as. I tried so hard to want to attend all 8 of the Missions Conference requirements with a willing, joyful heart, but at the midpoint of a semester, the pressure of homework made it difficult for me to focus. Besides, missions wasn’t where God was calling me.

Or was I?

An impossible dream. All 50 states? A year away? Yeah right. Since childhood I’ve loved “sets” of things. When I see something that I says “Collect Them All” or has “Kit” in the title, I have always had to restrain myself from buying it. Seeing all the areas of the country fit into that same category. I had to deny myself this dream.

Or did I?

            One text changed my entire mindset. “You have to come to this talk tomorrow! A guy is talking about traveling around the US doing missions!”  Maybe God had something in this conference after all. Suddenly this dream stirring in my heart and this conference had a connection that only God could construct.

            I entered the session with a sense of expectancy. With surprise, I realized that I knew the man who was leading the talk! He had been in a few of my Bible classes in previous semesters. His view often differed from mine during class discussions. I hesitated. Should I have come? The pamphlet was about PREACHING around the country. Not my passion or feeling of calling. Slight panic hit me. Maybe I shouldn’t stay. Maybe this was a mistake. Yet I felt a need to stay.

            The opening prayer was…different…and I fought the desire to run of the room. I squirmed in my seat. Why did God bring me here?!

            Yet as he began to speak, a spark was lit. Preaching was still not for me (unless God completely changed my heart!). But I could serve people in a different way. THAT was something that filled me with excitement! Maybe, just maybe, my desire to travel around the country wasn’t just a selfish desire created by me. Perhaps GOD had put that desire into my heart…and it was time that I let Him have it. 

            At the time, all I knew was that God was about do something bigger than me. Little did I know just how big!