Have no fear...

**So, I wanted to share with you all just how cool God is and how everything is all about HIS timing, not mine.**

Over 10 years ago, God put a passion in my heart for children and for missions. Most of you know that I've been on various mission trips overseas and am so very passionate about people and loving on them! Asia has been my heart for years. About two years ago, the Lord put Uganda, Africa on my heart specifically and I've just been waiting to hear from him as to the details of it all. I found out last year after getting reconnected with 2 college friends that are married that have been missionaries since after college that the Lord put Uganda on their heart as well. And long story short, they are leaving for Uganda for an undetermined amount of years this summer with their 4 children (soon to be 5 as Kristi is preggers and will be having her baby soon). God put this area (Karamoja, Uganda) on my heart as soon as I talked to Kristi about it last year and I knew that he wanted me involved in some capacity. Several weekends ago, I went to my church's (Mercy Place) women's retreat in Ft. Worth. At our retreat, God's Presence was so amazingly present...and big...and strong...and loving...and sweet...and beautiful. That Friday night, we had notecards to write on with the question being "What would I do for God if I had no fear?" and the Lord put this exactly on my heart: I would give up my current job that provides enough monetarily for me and let God use me to minister through coaching kids/teens and missions. We all discussed what God was showing us.

The following morning we began our session with a time of praise & worship, just humbly bringing ourselves before the Lord. Out of nowhere, the Lord put Uganda on my heart and so I obediently followed in praying further (I've been praying a lot lately about Karamoja). This was my conversation:

Me: Lord Jesus, what do you want to show me or say to me about Uganda?
God: I want you to go.
Me: Ok Lord, when do you want me to go?
God: This summer in June.
Me: Ok God, for how long?
God: One year.
Me: Ok Lord, I'm hearing one year. Are you sure this is from you or is this... (interruption)
God: This is from me.

I just began weeping and laughing all in one. An odd yet freeing emotion. Very interesting. :) I immediately felt peaceful, excited, like a child, and just ready to go!!! I couldn't believe that He had just answered my prayer from the previous night. He indeed gave me no fear. :) Contacted my friends via email to tell them the amazing news when I got back on that Saturday. Kept waiting to hear back from them. Come Sunday and I'm still so excited, prayerful, ready to get going on all the details b/c I realize how much is to be done in such a short amount of time...yet I haven't heard from them yet. I'm so exhausted and sleepy by 9pm but can't sleep b/c there's so many things I feel like God wants me to stay awake and pray about and I also felt like he wanted me to wait up to receive an email from Kristi. By like 11:30p, I had left my bed and was on the couch with my doggies. Just there. Close to midnight, I felt like I should pick up my phone to check for an email from Kristi. When I picked up the phone, it popped up immediately that I had just received an email (on facebook) from Kristi. I just giggled at God. He's so funny sometimes. She and Kenneth (her hubby) were so excited. I got even more confirmation from them. A girl on their team had just dropped out for some reasons...they now had a room available in the house that they will be living in and said it was available to me if I wanted it. Ummm, yes! Lol. Said the plans were to leave mid-June. I didn't tell them that I had received the word June from the Lord...just the summer. I was floored b/c I didn't know when they were leaving. And they're also flying out from DFW (they are living in CO). I have continued to get more & more confirmation about GOING and God is soooo good. So, I'm in the process of doing MUCH but God is in the business of doing MUCH MORE than I can possibly imagine! :) Praise Him for that and for exceeding my expectations daily. :)