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In four days the plane takes off.

Today I looked back into my journal to find a donations and prayer list to find my thoughts over a month ago.

“I’ve got 33 days until Uganda and $0.00 in financial support. I’ve invested several hundred dollars into this trip and my arm is numb from immunizations. I know that a lot of time, energy, and life will be invested into this adventure. Lord, give me the passion, motivation, joy, and encouragement to serve and love in a way only possible through You. Prepare my heart. I give you this experience. Soli Deo Gloria”. 

Today, the core costs of the trip are paid for (thanks to some amazing supporters in my community), the bags are filling up with donations and items for the orphanage, and I’m seeing the lists of tasks quickly inching closer to completion. I am challenging myself to spend a lot of time learning how to give all of my energy to Uganda. Alex-Anna, one of the others going on this trip, seemed to say it incredibly well on her blog

“this is a chance to give all I can give to the children over there. To come back completely empty. With no more supplies. No more energy. No more emotion. Leave it all there. This is the chance of a lifetime..I know when I’m feeling completely drained, all of you back here will be using the energy I don’t have to pour into prayers for us.”

While I fully anticipate complete exhaustion when I arrive back in the States, I feel as if the Lord will have an entirely new form of energy for me. Something that I can not understand, even when hearing the stories of those who have experienced it. While it’s difficult to predict or analyze the reactions or response to my journey (why would I even try to figure that out right now?), I expect my worldview to be shattered. I expect my preconceived notions to come crumbling down like a building responding to the forces of explosions.

I desire the connection to my brothers and sisters in Uganda. The news will no longer be simply a numbing statistic. It will be real people, with their own stories. Stories that need to be heard. May He use me as one of those avenues in which His children are recognized, desired, and loved.

Soli Deo Gloria.