When It Rains, It Pours

We are in rainy season.  Rainy season here doesn’t mean rain all the time, but when it does rain it pours!  It often causes havoc as no roads here are built for good water flow.  Things are usually flooded for at least a few days after the rains until the sun clears it up.  So for the days following rain we take our special routes around town that avoid the rivers of water as much as possible.

I have realized recently that ministry is much the same.  We have season of busyness that test us to our every bone and then there is usually a break that allows us to refresh a little.  Things were really crazy for us in June in preparation for our first field gathering.  Then the month of July was a lot more laid back and we have had some good down time.  We have learned to enjoy the down time when we get it and to not feel guilty about it as down time is usually followed by another downpour.  Our time of rest is now ending.

Ahead of us is a season of travel.  In less than a week we leave for Burkina Faso.  We will spend 10 days there meeting with 3 different missionary families who are in the process of learning one language or another.  As we are gone a new family will be arriving to the field.  So we will return to help out with the orientations and the adjustments of those difficult first days.  Four days after we return, I take off to Liberia to travel out to a remote village for 10 days.  We then pack up as a family for a 2 week trip by car down to Guinea.  Finally our season ends with a 2 week Language Coaching Workshop we are hosting here in Senegal.  Wosh! I will no doubt have many stories to tell.

I have never been a fan of travel or adventures, lets be honest I was the daughter who batted my eyes at my dad to get a ride to work because taking the bus was too scary.  However I do love our ministry.  I love siting down with people and listening to what they are experiencing.  I know there are so many challenges that are quietly faced and it is great to have a chance to share a little of their burdens and help if possible with ideas for pushing on.  So I look forward to these travels and I dread these travels at the same time.  But most of all I know that I just need to trust God to be my strength in each adventure and in each flooded road we face.

Pray that we would rely on God in hard times and in the good.  Pray that he will give us wisdom beyond our years as we seek to help and encourage those we encounter the best we can.  Pray for safety and pray for our family in our separation.