So that's great Maria you've received a passionate new outlook on life and a deep desire for reaching out to orphans....BUT, where does Donny come into this picture? How on earth did you sell Donny on a mission trip to Africa!?! What kind of bribes and/or threats were on the table here?
Well, my friends I will tell you how amazing our great God is! He worked through me to convince my lovely husband that stepping out in faith is worth the risk and it only took minimal threats to deliver this message! Ha! Some how I was able to share with him one simple value that has become a guiding source for my life: Believing in God's plan has a greater reward for our life than our meager mind can grasp and at no circumstance must we continue living our life consumed and stifled by humanly fear. It's time... we are being called to walk by faith, we need to answer.
Here's how the scenario played out. I learned of this trip on a Thursday afternoon and promised my response of yes/no to Amanda on the following Monday morning. I had 3 days to 'pitch this sale' of a lifetime to my husband and I had NO CLUE how I was going to make this happen as financially constrained as we are I knew he'd have the "money excuse" to use as an iron-clad scapegoat to hang on for dear life to his answer of "NO" which would leave me not having a leg to stand on when it comes to arguing the righteous choice! I had answers and solutions worked out for any and every other possible excuse he might conjure up to discourage this trip from becoming a reality, except the money and the time off from our jobs...that I was leaving in God's hands because it was nearing the weekend so I was pretty limited from making these things happen in a snap. On Friday afternoon as I was still nervously fumbling around on how I would get Donny to jump on this crazy train with me I miraculously ended up with the following video in my hands. As I watched this nearly 10 minutes of a simple Youtube sermon, I realized how these were God's words for ME and ultimately for DONNY. I bawled my eyes out as I watched this video and listened to every single amazing and convicting word flowing from Rick Warren's mouth like peotry to my soul! After hitting "replay" repeatedly I could nearly recite the sermon myself by the end of the day! Please humor me and spare 10 minutes to watch the video for yourself, maybe there's a message for you as well?
So after I had watched this time and again it struck me(a hundred different ways for a hundred different reasons)...there are many messages screaming out to me through this video but for the purpose of my uber important 'WEEKEND SALES PITCH' there was one undeniable message coming through in the video tightly grasping my attention! The message was that Rick Warren took a leap of faith believing in his wife's calling from God, supporting her dreams and promising to embrace this journey with her. While on this "trip for his wife" what happened to Rick ~ he recognized a calling from God on his own life and found this trip had just as much purpose for him as it did for his wife!!! How indescribably beautiful that message was for me, instantly I knew there was a greater plan behind this mission trip to Africa(for so many reasons). Yes, it is heavy on MY heart to reach out to orphans; Yes, this extreme poverty issue consumes MY compassion; Yes, I feel a deep longing to be connected to Africa; YES! I want to take home every sweet baby I seen in that video; Yes, I am embracing God's word to live out the Red Letters of Jesus Christ himself! But this trip is not JUST A CALLING FOR ME...it is an answer to the almighty prayer of a CALLING FOR DONNY! I get shivers running down my spine every single time I say those words! God has answered my prayers for Donny to be touched by his hands in such a physical way that he will be forever changed just as I am. This is that journey for Donny, that hands-on experience that he needs to encounter [in living color] for the eyes of his heart to be opened. I am so amazed at how extraordinary this Savior is of ours. Ask and you shall receive INDEED! I prayed and he answered in such a magnitude that many, many prayers and dreams are coming true through his one simple answer and comandment to: Come to Africa. "Give away your life; you'll find life given back, but not merely given back- given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity" (luke 6:38) for God has made us this "deal" in the Bible: "If you take care of the things that are on my heart, I'll take care of the things on yours." this message is pretty much as clear as it gets!
I want my husband to lay down his life for Jesus Christ as I am and in a mere 27 days I truly believe Donny's chance to spiritually shine is going to explode, ignite and burst to life like a firestorm consuming his soul just as it has for me. I know from deep inside the depths of my spirit that when we return home from this trip we will be one heart desperate for Christ and no longer two hearts that beat separately. Disclaimer: even if Donny doesn't come home a complete "Jesus fruit-loop" like myself, I know that God's plans for us in Africa are greater than my understanding at this moment and without doubt our lives will be forever changed even if it's in NONE OF THE WAYS I'm imagining. For I truly embrace this scripture that is seeking me out almost daily and I know this is a preview of "those greater plans than my understanding": "Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me - you did it to me." (Matthew 25:40) the words of our Lord are absolutely beautiful! We will see what his plans are for us, time will tell!
SO back to how I physically convinced Donny to say "YES"; After 48 hours I untied his restraints and removed his gag and asked if he had come to his senses! HA! Just kidding! ;) It didn't become quite 'that severe'. Firstly, I sat him down which I felt was best for his phsyical safety as the probability of him fainting was high. Before I even had the chance to utter one word he responded to me with this: "What on earth is going on Maria? I have NEVER seen a look like that in your eyes, this must be something huge and possibly scary?! Why is there this eerie twinkle in your eye that I haven't ever seen in my life?" With that I poured my heart out to him sitting on the couch, yet floating in the clouds and barely remembering anything that was flying out of my mouth! I 'pitched my sale' and left it at that...I wanted him to have the weekend to completely consume what I was asking of him before he answered. I shared the video above with him on Saturday, I figured it certainly couldn't hurt! ;) So Sunday night we sat down to discuss his answer and it was plain and simple... "NO". Surprisingly my heart did not deflate, and I did not fly off the handle (which I thought I might) and I ultimately KNEW he was going to say NO...yet I was undeterred in my faith...I knew we were going to Africa. He did come to terms with the idea of me going on the trip without him, he thought that would be a good compromise(and keep him from being on my "list"), but I KNEW that was not God's intent for us so I immediately snapped back "NOPE, We BOTH need to be on this trip, this experience has a purpose for EACH OF US". I went to bed that night more confused than anything, I felt soooo strongly that we were going to be on this trip but I needed to give my answer to Amanda the very next morning so where was my magical wand when I needed it?
Monday morning I awoke to Donny whispering in my ear "I have a few logistical questions I'd like to get answered and then I'll say 'YES'. If I can get the time off of work then I'll be on board with this trip to Africa. Thank you Maria for showing me we are worth it. I want to take this leap of faith with you, thank you for opening my eyes to see something bigger". I was frozen stiff in my half-comatose state of sleep and so I mumbled an "I love you for believing in something you don't understand, believing in me and facing your fear" and by the time he exited the bedroom I was jumping for joy on top of my bed like a 5yr old, doing trampoline type flips and all! The reality had finally shaken me awake....WE WERE GOING TO AFRICA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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