And so it begins...

El Refugio Bajo La Ala De Dios began differently for each of us involved. This is my story. I will never forget the first time I left those beautiful children in Mexico in 2010. I remember my son Christopher asking if we could just bring home a few of the kids. I remember crying for weeks because I just wanted to move there and love them all. As I look back I remember my friend telling me it wasn't time yet, but there would come a day when we were ready. Each time I would visit I wanted to bring some home. But how can you pick just one. Every time, I left a piece of my heart in Mexico.  In August of 2013, we returned from one of our trips and if I'm honest with myself, I knew then, we were supposed to move - I just didn't want to face it yet. It was still far too scary.  

The Lord had put Laura on my heart and I knew He had told me she was my daughter. But what He never told me was that we would bring her to the US. But she was my daughter - that much I knew for sure. 

Every time I would visit I would hear another story of one of the kids, my heart broke and my soul longed to help them in healing. And yet at the same time the thought of moving my family, especially my son with Asperger's, to an entirely different country and culture sounded crazy to me. I enjoyed the comfort and security of my home, my church, and a job I adored. I didn't want to leave the church that had become my family. And yet I kept hearing The Lord tell me this was a time of rest but don't get comfortable. 

The day finally came when denying the call to move became nearly impossible. Then my husband came to me and told me he felt we were supposed to move to Mexico. Well there was no denying it now. Apparently God had told Virgil too. 

Friends were praying with me and it seemed as if we were surely supposed to move. And then came the trip at Christmas. I will never forget walking into the kitchen and Ricardo told me he had been praying and had a vision that I was helping the girls with inner healing and he was translating for me. 

Yep, it was pretty undeniable.  That was when I surrendered my fears and stepped into His vision. Danya had mentioned her dream of an orphanage on many occasions. As it turns out, it's much bigger than we thought. It begins with a transition home for the girls in the orphanage that are coming of age. A safe place for them to live while they go to school, learn a skill, grow in faith, and find a job. 

The vision continues with a refuge for kids and teens that have been victims of human trafficking. Wow! Quite a grand vision. It is terrifying and exciting and amazing. I am at a place where I must rely solely on The Lord. What a great place to be. 

And this ministry begins with my family. A work we will do together. And a wonderful message for my son to learn as he watches us obey The Lord even when it's hard. He will learn to be faithful and obedient even when you're scared, answer the call even when it seems too large. Why? Because God is big enough. And in the words of a good friend, "I don't think God has been in control of everything so far and yet somehow he missed this one thing and got it wrong". That's right, God is big enough. He goes before us, he walks beside us, and he takes up our rear guard. With Him, all things are possible. Even a dream this big. Because it's His dream. 

All In

Today, I was reading All In by Mark Batterson. It's a great book that has really been speaking so much to me. However, today I read the chapter called Rim Huggers. He tells of a story of a time when he went on a trip to hike the rim of the Grand Canyon. As he finishes his 2 day hike he emerges cake in clay, dirt, sweat, and tear only to see people standing on the rim looking out in awe at the Grand Canyon. He said he felt sorry for them. He realized that they probably had some good head knowledge about the grand canyon, probably loved the grand canyon but they had not experienced the grand canyon. That's when I realized something...

I don't want to be a rim hugger. 

I want to enter into the experience and emerge caked in mud, sweat, and tears with every muscle exhausted from work and hear Him say "Well done, my good and faithful servant". What good is a life lived unless you live it the way He wants you to live. In that moment, I realized something else that I hadn't realized....

God had hired wired me for this. 

As I grew up, my natural personality was adventurous. People had ideas and I was the one who carried them out. People had ideas but were nervous or scared and I was the one who pushed all fear aside and said "ok, let's do this".  I was the one who would start implementing and dare to blaze that path that has not yet been gone down. But then things happened in life and I got scared. I began to crave comfort and security and I lost who I was. I went from being extroverted to severely introverted. I shut down that adventurous part of me. 

Well no more! I will be exactly who God has called me to be! Regardless of where it leads. It can lead to Africa, or China, or Las Vegas, or the streets of Tijuana because I know it will lead to the lost, the broken, and the hurting. That's where the battle is and that's where I want to be. 

I will go where He sends me no matter what. Why? Because that is who He made me to be.

Want to read more about the story? Tomorrow I'll let you in on the vision. Stay tuned.