Three weeks until Israel!

So, I started reading the Bible from the beginning - Where else would I start my search for information for my trip to the Holy Land?! (And I am getting, like, really excited!!!)  


In my thoughts about prayer, the prayers the people of Israel have stood out to me, mostly because I (and all of us) relate to them so well - trying to follow God, but forgetting about Him every step of the way.  But their prayers asking God to send them out from Egypt stood out to me:

“…the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help.  Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God.  And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.  God saw the people of Israel  - and God knew.” Exodus 2:23-24

I just think it is interesting that it wasn't Moses who prayed to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt - it was the people of Israel.  And God chose/had planned to answer their prayers by appearing to Moses and telling him to go to Pharaoh and bring God’s people out of Egypt.  All Moses could say is “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children out of Israel?” 3:11 Moses did not pray for this task, he actually asked God not to give him the task – but through his eventual obedience, God was able to answer the people of Israel’s prayers and bless both Israel and Moses, and keep His promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

My point is, I think that God asks us and leads us, just like He asked Moses to follow Him to or through certain places or situations sometimes seemingly walking into the fire -- sometimes to answer other people’s prayers, sometimes to answer our own prayers but always to bless us, bless all of us through it - we just have to learn to listen.

A huge part of God leading me to Africa was a random trip to Publix in Crestline one afternoon – I’ll never forget it – because I had no reason to go, but I just felt like I should go.  I ran into a friend from Auburn University who was living in Birmingham and over small talk, she told me about she and her husband moving to Africa the next year, she to do slum mission and he to teach.  I said that I had always wanted to go to Africa – and she said there was an art job still open – and she facebook messaged me the link that night – I filled out the online application for NICS (like I had done for several other overseas teaching organizations and the peace corps) that night, and forgot about it.  I wasn't reminded until I was back in Auburn for Gilmer's funeral, and Brother Charles asked me when I was going to teach overseas?  This was days after I had found out that my job was "shaky" for the next year, and days before I learned about my living situation for the next year falling through.  So, I contacted NICS to see where my application was, and was hired to teach in Africa days later.  It's so amazing to look back and see how God moved in my life, and in affect, in the lives of those around me!

 “And we know that for those who love God ALL things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28