The Death of a Vision...

A year and half ago, I was in Costa Rica, learning about working with Children at Risk. One day, one of our speakers talked about vision and the process God takes us through to refine our vision and then make the vision a reality.

All I remember now is that step 6 or 7 in the process, is "the death of a vision," the part where we give up and realize it's not going to happen, unless He makes it happen. And that's where I was at. I had planned a whole trip to India to do my internship, and now it wasn't going to happen. So frustrating, but yet hopeful, as I knew God would bring it about in His time.

The year and a half since then have been long, but good. I've learned and grown, and re-evaluated my vision, and got married, and combined our visions together.

I'm pretty excited to finally be going back to India!! And I'm not going alone!! When we get there, we going to find a place to live, and get a Hindi tutor, and start learning language and culture with a group of people. We'll get to see some of our friends from Idaho, and meet new people, Hopefully in 6 months we'll come up with a long-term plan for visa's as well as where we'll be living.

I can't wait!!!! 5 weeks till we get on that plane to India :)

Road Trip!!!

What We Do...

At this point, Duane's & my role in pioneering the North India Initiative is mostly networking. We meet with churches, ministries, and individuals in order to find out what ministry is already going on in India, and to mobilize more people to get involved. Later this year, we plan to go to India to meet with long-term workers and see how we can best serve their ministries.

In the future we will be taking church groups and outreach teams to India. The type of outreaches we do will be determined by the gifts and interests of the outreach team, but also by what is most beneficial and strategic for the long-term ministries in India.

Road Trip...

Duane & I are using this next month grow our financial support team, so we have a good financial foundation on which we can start our marriage and pioneer the ministry God is calling us to do.

On March 27 the leader of NSI will be speaking at a church in Denver. Duane & I, along with a few of our co-workers, will be there to connect with people who want to get more involved in missions. From there Duane & I will join another couple in Austin, TX and then road trip with them to Birmingham, AL; Nashville, TN; Kansas City, MO; Denver, CO and finally back to Colorado Springs on April 13th. In all these places Duane & I will be meeting with current supporters and potential supporters, as well as networking with ministries and people who focus on reaching India. Please be praying that this will be a fruitful season.

Road Trip Calendar:

March 27 - Denver, CO

March 28 - Austin, TX

March 29-April 1 - Birmingham, AL

April 2-7 - Nashville, TN

April 8-10 - Kansas City, MO

April 10 - Lawrence, KS

April 11-13 - Denver, CO

India Now, or Later?

Yesterday, Rick talked about Vision and how the Father leads us in steps of faith in the process. As I’ve been preparing to go to India, I’ve been all over the place in the processes.

1) He puts a dream in our heart. – live/serve in India

2) Take action to carry out the dream. – move to Idaho, go with a group to India, take another team to India.

3) Experiencing delay in the vision tests our commitment. – I didn't staff India group this time, but instead take a detour to Costa Rica for the CRS, even though they focus on reaching Central America.

4) The Father gives us some release in the vision. – I find out I can do outreach in India anyway :)

5) Than we face challenges. Through that the Father teaches us how to do His will His way.

Right now I alternate between 4 and 5. This up-coming trip to India looks impossible, then I get good contacts and things seem like it’s going to work. Then I find out that “team India” is going to be “team Becky.” The leaders decide that’s not ideal,but since I plan to live in India anyway, they release me to go. Then I question if I should go on my own, but everything is falling into place. Then they tell me how much it will cost, and I doubt again, and think I should just give up on this for now, but I want to go. So maybe I should just move on to stage 6…

6) The death of the vision. the Father teaches us to trust totally in Him. Unless He resurrects the dream, it’s not going to happen. That's how I feel right now...am I going to India now? or later...

7) Deliverance phase – the Father raises the vision from the dead and delivers us into walking in the vision He has given us.

Because He Is Worthy...

The video session on values was amazing. “Seeing something of greater value gives us the obligation to chose it over something of lesser value.” The example being would you like a $10 bill or a $20 bill? Duh. But would you rather have $10 American, or 100 Indian Rupees? It gets tricky if you don't know the value of the object.

How we define ourselves is rooted in a value system. If I drive a nice car, I feel good about myself. But if I drive an old piece of junk, I am more humble than you, and therefore I can still feel good about myself. If I have been to more countries and have a longer quiet time, than I am more spiritual too, right?

So what is the most valuable thing in the world? Or more simply: which is bigger, the value of the Father or the value of man? When you put it that way, does it really matter what car I drive, or where I have been...

“The Father is worthy of your life. We are obligated to choose Him, because He is the most valuable thing in the universe.”

This means the motive for why I do what I do, is because He is worthy of my life and when I do what He has called/gifted me to do, it brings Him pleasure. Any other motive, just isn’t good enough.

So now I know the answer to the question: what is your motive for taking this school and wanting to work with kids? Because He is worthy.

It sounds so simple, yet so complicated at the same time...

Why Are We Here?

This past week Janna taught on “Why We’re Here: A Framework for Action”

This week was about setting the foundation for working with Children in Risk. We talked about the needs, as well as our motives for working with Children. We learned the Father's intention for children to be raised in family. Janna had some fun projects for us to do, to help us better understand what role we want to play in working with Children.

One project was writing out what Word says the Father will do, and what the Word says we get to do. While doing this project I also learned about the random creativity of some of the guys in my class.
The thing that impacted me the most this week was talking about motives, and how everything I do has to come out of my relationship with the Father. During class, Janna challenged us with “There is a lot of pain on the way to establishing hope – you have to go to the most hopeless place and find God there. Can you keep going back to God? And finding Him to be good?”

That statement made me think about the past few years of my life and the Word: “I would have lost heart, had I not believed I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living” (Ps 27:13). Life was dark for awhile and sometimes just existing seemed painful, but the Father has been faithful through it all. I have seen His goodness so much especially in the past couple years. Remembering the Father’s faithfulness in the past gives me hope that I will be able to trust Him and find Him to be good, even in the midst of hopelessness. It also makes me even more aware of my need to spend time daily reading the Word, and growing in my relationship with the Father.