When Life Comes Full Circle

(My first Spanish prayer with people in Mexico 21 years ago.) 

21 years ago I stepped off of an airplane onto Mexican soil. This moment forever changed my life in so many ways.  

I was just a teenager and had made the decision (with my parent's permission) to go on my first mission trip.  This experience changed so much....my perspective, my worldview, my educational path, my plans my desires and my destiny.  

Fast forward, 21 years.  I'm a mother of four amazing girls and I get the absolutely crazy privilege of taking our oldest on such a trip. In just a few short days, we will be boarding an airplane and planting our feet on Peruvian soil.  It's amazing how time has passed and life has literally come full circle.  I remember that first trip like it was yesterday and now I am able to go and take my own daughter. 

I'm so grateful to the family, friends and even strangers who have made this trip possible by generous donations. To my awesome husband who will be holding down the fort with our other girls while we are gone. 

We will be joining my parents who will be holding a community wide Gospel presentation in a local soccer stadium.  My daughter will get to experience the legacy of her grandparents as they are still able to walk out their destiny. She and I will also be hosting a children's conference, "Let Your Light Shine", where we will have so much fun with hundreds of Peruvian children through games and music.  We will bring to them a message of hope, love and encouragement. 

My prayer for our oldest daughter is that her already compassionate heart will return even more full of compassion for the people of this world.  That her eyes would be opened to the HUGEness of her God and the love that He has for people. That she would not look only through "American eyes", but realize there is a great big world out there.  I pray that she would realize, even at this young age, some of her gifts, talents and passions and how to pursue them.  

I know that with these prayers, I may face the day that my parents did so many years ago, and that she may come to me and say, "mom, it's time for me to go."  In case that happens, I need to prepare my heart now to be ready to trust my sweet girl to a big God that loves her and has big plans for her life. 


Here we go...

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