Good morning from Dallas!

I arrived safely in Dallas last night around 2:30am. It took me 2 hours to load my dad's truck by myself. The boxes were heavy and awkward, and there were more last minute items to get packed than I realized. So I didn't get on the road til 11pm. I was kinda worried about my safety, but I talked to Rick Bowman on the phone and he spoke some big words of encouragement that totally made me a woman on a mission to get to Dallas! He was like, "there is a calling on your life and God knows you need to be in Dallas safely, so walk in that truth and stay alert and focused on your mission!" He was right! I got iced coffee and hit the road and seriously before I knew it I was suddenly in Hillsboro, 2 hours had flown by. The rest of the drive to Dallas was a breeze. I was in the zone. I was a drivin fool.

So now it's 8am and I'm up getting last-minute things done, and making final decisions on what to take on my trip. My flight leaves at 3pm and goes to Wash, DC where I will meet up with my aunt Star and her group whose trip this is that I'm tagging along with. This is her sixth year in a row to go to Oman on this trip. She used to be in advertising/PR for about 20 years, and then about 10 years ago she had a big crisis of faith and felt God was calling her out of that and toward a position as an executive director of a small Habitat for Humanity chapter in Dorchester County, SC. She's been living with my grandpa in Charleston, caring for him as he's 92 and needs someone around.

Side note: my grandparents served as "M"s in the Middle East and North Africa for 46 years, in countries like Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, and including 25 years in Morocco. He is blessed to have Star living with him in his twilight years, taking good care of him. He is a dear dear man and strong servant of God. My grandma Beth died when my mom was 10 of Leukemia, leaving behind my mom and three sisters, Star being the youngest at age two, the middle two sisters named Susan and Joy, hence me being named Susan Joy.

People wondered how my grandpa could go on serving a God who would "take" a young wife/mother of age 33 who was serving Him on the field. Luckily my grandpa didn't see it that way, and could see things that are not seen. He trusted in God's loving faithfulness. A few years later God put my Grandma Arlene in his life (the grandma that I grew up knowing). She was about the age I am now. She fell in love with the girls and with my grandpa and they married and served in Morocco running a bookstore which sold, among many other books, the Bible. Prior to that my grandma had been serving the Lord in India for many years as a nurse. So together they had twin girls who are now both on the field with their husbands! Reminds me again of Romans 8:28 - And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

My grandma Arlene died of Leukemia as well, in 1994. Soon after it was obvious that my grandpa needed someone around to help with meals and stuff. I remember a little ditty being said in the family that he was "too heavenly minded to be any earthly good." Star has been a gift from God to him, taking care of the business of the household and keeping some meat on his bones. Luckily, he is a sweet and gentle man even though he's gradually forgetting who everyone is -- although he does spit like a camel, whenever and wherever. My aunts say it's from living for so many years in the Middle East. :-)

I always end up going off on tangents on these posts. You'll have to bear with me, since this is pretty much my journal, so as such I tend to get sentimental and think of all the things that have led me to this day, not just the facts of current day. Hopefully by telling you you'll come to see how the threads of the tapestry of my faith story have come together, and see the way that God has chosen to use my family as his faithful servants, and understand why I am so humbled and blessed to have been called home to Him, to serve in the work in any way he has planned for me. This trip is more about me just being available to him vs. me having any kind of agenda of my own. Please pray that I would remain connected to the spirit of God in every moment so that I may do his perfect will. John 15:5 has been my mantra the past two weeks in preparing myself for this day.

Unless I decide to blog again before leaving for the airport, the next post you will receive from me will be from Oman!!! Pray for safe travels, restful sleep, and a spirit of confident hope to fill me!

Love,
Susan

Ephesians 1: 18-19 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.