Saying Goodbye

Our family will be saying goodbye to Moses this week.

I can't even type that without tearing up.

How am I going to help him pack his bags? How am I going to get through our last dinner together? How am I going to look him in the eyes and say goodbye as he leaves for Liberia?

I want to be strong for him and express confidence to him that I trust our Father has him in His hands and everything is going to be alright.

I don't know if me being a sobbing mess with red eyes and a running nose will convey that message of confidence to him.

I absolutely know that Moses is in God's hand and He will take care of him.

But, goodbyes are still hard.

I'm not envious of Tony anymore. I get to say goodbye and then cower at home and cry in the privacy of my own home. Tony has to say goodbye in front of an entire orphanage full of kids just like Moses. And, he gets to leave them all behind.

How is he going to do that?

But - despite the tears, I do have confidence that God is working big and mighty things through all of this. God has made it clear to Tony and me that we are to get off our rears and do something for Him. We don't know exactly what that is yet, but we are waiting expectantly. I have a feeling when God reveals what He wants us to do, we are going to fly off our seats. We are so ready!

I would love to get a God's eye view of Moses' trip to America. I know how He used Moses to change Tony's and my hearts. I would love to see all the ways God has used this trip to work in everyone's lives that Moses touched. I have to say - that boy got around. I have had friends tell me that they had a friend that met Moses while they were at a cousin's boyfriend's sister's neighbor's house. It was crazy! Talk about six degrees of separation.

And, every one of those friends had the same little smile on their face when they talked about meeting him.

No one can convince me that God did not work through Moses while he was in America.

I am praying for that work to continue.

I can't sit around and just watch as our world falls into self-centerness. I don't want that for my children. I want them to see the needs in our world and know that they can do something to help. Not fix the world's problems, just do something to help.

If we don't give of ourselves, we just get absorbed in ourselves.

God says where people are heading in 2 Timothy 3:2-5:

"For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people."

It looks to me that our world is already there. God says that's the way it is. I can't stop it. But, I can resist that for myself and guide my children to avoid that kind of lifestyle.

I think the most effective way to do that is to allow God to work through me as I focus on loving others and reaching out beyond myself. There are so many ways to do that. My heart is specifically burdened for those living in poverty. One friend of mine is burdened for the planned parenthood building that is being constructed here in Houston. Another friend shared her burden for the girls who are being sold as sex slaves. All of these issues need to be addressed. God will lay on your heart where He wants you to reach out. And, we can pray for all of them.

God will turn your whole world upside down, if you let Him. It will fill your heart with a joy that cannot be replaced by anything in this world.

I have to warn you, though.

It will involve lots of tears.