If you have followed many of my posts, you know that a huge passion of mine is to help put an end to human trafficking. You may also know that I am about to embark on a mission trip to Costa Rica (this Sat actually- woo-hoo!). My husband and I have realized we feel a call to do something with our lives that will help those recovered from human trafficking, and it just happens that after I signed up for one of our church’s mission trips, we found out we were going to work with the Rahab Foundation, an organization which does just that. What an incredible learning experience for me, right?
Through the process of wanting to help the team understand human trafficking more, I began to further my research on the topic. The doubts I had that my husband and I were headed on the right path vanished. We do not know exactly what our next steps are, so we felt this trip might be a jumping off point for us.
Then a few days ago, an email was sent out by the mission team leader, and the subject line read: “IMPORTANT- Big change for Costa Rica- our first big test.”
I avoided opening that message and checked everything else first, played around on Facebook for a while, and even did some dishes. When I finished all of that, the message was still there, and it looked important since, as you can see, it was written in all caps. I knew without opening it that our plans to work with the Rahab Foundation had changed. Sure enough. There had been some sort of scheduling conflict at the last minute and we would now be unable to work with them. I was immediately angry and sad. My doubts that Robert and I maybe aren’t meant to join the forces of putting an end to modern day slavery resurfaced. I cried.
Soon I remembered that everyone I’ve ever talked to about going on mission trips has said to expect the unexpected, but to trust God in it because it will be an amazing experience, even if it isn’t the experience you expected or wanted it to be. Instead of working with these women, the team will be working with low-income, high-risk children, teaching them about and showing them God’s love. Obviously this is an incredible opportunity to experience God. Also, now the men on the team, and the two young boys will be able to interact and do more than paint a building. Through these changes, we ALL have a chance to experience and show God to those who desperately need Him. That truly excites me.
But was this a sign that God was not leading Robert and I to be abolitionists? I don’t think that was His intention at all. He knew the whole time that this mission team would be working with these kids, but He also knew I needed a bit of a jump-start, which I was given because of this trip as I dove into searching out information and organizations that dedicate themselves to the worthy cause of freedom of all human beings. That process has already pushed us forward on our journey. Robert and I are talking about it more, researching more, and planning our next moves as well as praying that we make the right ones. We’ve included asking our small group and my parents to pray with us for direction, and I believe our lives are going to seriously begin to change this year as God helps us put down a foundation on which we will grow our own outreach/ministry.
I’m still not sure what will happen next for Robert and I or my mission team, but this scripture (Proverbs 3:5-6) helps me trust God: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” I just have to trust Him, and he’ll help me though the rest of it.
In order to keep this in mind, I ask God, “Show me the path where I should go, O Lord; point out the right road for me to walk.” (Psalm 25:4)
caverns of my mind 