Prayers Please…

I’m scared. And I’m excited, too!

We have reached our personalized support goal! We have a go-date of March 20! And in a whirl-wind two days of emails and calls, we have sent our precious passports to the Liberian Embassy in Washington, D.C. in an expedited manner to receive the proper travel visas; we have had airline tickets purchased with not only our names but three precious baby ladies’ names (!), and the wakefulness in the wee hours of the morning has prompted this journal.

I’m scared.

I really want to be bold and courageous, like Caleb and Joshua with good reports of the promised land, or like my Caleb and Patrick on the wrestling mat or football field, or like Jerry Cain told us Ann Judson was, the “brassy lassie” married to missionary Adonairum Judson.

As brave as I want to be, I am scared, as I know our boys have been against tough competitors, as I can only presume Joshua may have been since the Lord told him three times in four verses to be very courageous (Joshua 1:6-9). As I know you have been as you’ve waited in doctors’ offices or sat by a child or spouse’s hospital bed, as you’ve faced giants of life like a career move, another baby, throbbing arthritis, an impossible co-worker, a rebellious child.

We have the source of all bravery, the Holy Spirit of the Living God, housed inside the sanctuary of this pitiful flesh of fear. Why would God really allow his Presence to reside in such an earthen vessel?

And in His infinite wisdom, He allows Himself to be wrapped in our hearts, to experience pain and joy and weakness with us, and He calls us to cast our cares on Him because He CARES for us. And He reminds us to confess our sins to one another and humbly ask for prayer.

Please pray for us right now. Please cover us with prayers for safety, wisdom in packing, health, graciousness toward one another and the children, for Ruth’s last days of school in the US until 2018, for our moms who are hugging these girls more tightly and often, and for the Kingdom to come, on earth as it is, so beautifully, in heaven.

If you would like to send us prayers or notes of encouragement and share your own prayer requests, please email Stanton@internationalministries.org (don’t hit “reply” to this email—compose a new one). We will only be at 2209 Division St. in Murphysboro, IL 62966 for a short time, so if you write a card, make it quick!

Thank you for your love and concern. We can do all things, only through Him who gives us strength.