Do you ever get hung up on not knowing what God's will is in your life? Or maybe not being able to fully see the purpose He has in certain events or situations that occur in your life?

Over a year ago, my husband and I did a short term mission trip to Dominican Republic. We spent eight days with a team of twenty, building a house for a single dad in the church there, and seeing individuals who were in need of dental or dermatologist work. It was a life-changing experience for us. We both came back home with an overwelming desire to do more. We just didn't know what, or where. We fell in love with the people in the DR. But our main challenge was the language barrier....we didn't speak hardly any spanish. So we both began to pray earnestly for God's direction and discernment. At the time, we wondered if He would send us back for a longer period.

Since then, I've gone through a few bouts of frustration....mainly with the waiting part. You know, how we have to wait for God to lead, and not try to run ahead with our own plan. That can be kind of hard for someone like me. I'm more of a mover and a shaker. LOL  For months, absolutely NOTHING happened. We both continued to pray and talk about it, and talk to friends (who are also praying for us), and....nothing happened.

And then, in August, something happened.  We answered a local ad on our hs's loop.....Spanish girl needs a host family. We called the number, read her profile, prayed for three days, and knew without a doubt, that we were the ones for the job. LOL It's really crazy.....we've never done anything like it before. And the whole thing happened in three days. Then we left for vacation for 10 days!!! Talk about putting it all in God's hands!! We returned from Florida, and basically had 3 more days to get things ready for a new "family member" to arrive.

We have been so blessed with Adri being a part of our family. She has been here since August 17th, and she'll be leaving on June 10th. Something in the depths of my heart tells me that she's here for a purpose. It's so like God that  we get to share our home and faith with a girl who came the first week and told us, "I don't believe in God."  Ofcourse she wanted to partake in all the experiences we had to offer for the "cultural enrichment". I don't think she realizes yet that God is always planting little seeds.

She goes to church with us every Sunday. She prays with us at the dinner table every night. We ask her how we can pray for her and she writes a list down on paper and gives it to us. She joined a YoungLife group. And her two best buddies at school are both Christians.

Over Christmas break, her mom, dad, sister and grandma came and stayed with us for 5 days. It was amazing!! I don't think they recognized it at all, but I could see the hands of God at work the entire time. We talked about all kinds of things....politics, social issues, education, homeschooling, cooking, traveling, church......LOL We were concerned about not speaking enough spanish!! God was SO GOOD. We had three spanish-english dictionary-translators that we tag-teamed with everywhere we went and Adri and her sister who translated alot, and by-golly, we got along pretty good!!  Hey! My spanish classes are finally paying off, I thought!!

You know, I still don't know what all this has to do with God's purpose for our lives and whether it includes the DR. We know that we feel as passionate today about it as we did a year ago November. Is this all preparation??? As well as giving us the opportunity to plant some seeds that will maybe one day bloom somewhere in Madrid, Spain? I don't know.

I do know that my husband and I AND our kids are learning all about how to REALLY trust in the Lord. We're getting a good lesson in what it means to be still and wait.  I trust that even though we can't see the whole picture, I know that Romans 8:29 says that all things work together for the good of those who love Him and have been called according to His purpose.

Gosh, we love you Lord.....and I know we've been called for Your purpose. And we can be excited and encouraged because The Plan You do have for us, is better then anything we could ever imagine. Thank you for teaching me so much about trusting You more.   Amen!!