trusting for monkey bites

we just talked to annie  in africa for the first time since she arrived!  she sounds wonderful at “home” in the place where her heart sings.  she told us about her flight, the people and children at the orphanage where she will work.  we talked about the challenges of time change and how much we miss her.   

then she told us about their new pet, a monkey.  yep.  a monkey.  and that the monkey was small and cute and sweet… and got a little freaked out around the kids and bit her.  yep. the monkey bit her. welcome to life in africa.

monkey bites were not on my list of “bad things that could happen while living in africa.”  my first thought was “do tetanus and rabies shots cover monkey bites?"  michael, my 20 year old son told me, “you know aids started in monkeys.”  that was helpful.  :0)

i could feel the challenge to worry or to trust Him rising up inside me.  what will I choose?   so my new area of learning to trust God involves monkey bites.  is God big enough to handle monkey bites?  absolutely, yes.   do I need to worry about the complications that might come from a monkey bite?  absolutely not.  because God can be trusted in all things.   who better to trust than the One who loves me and is in complete control of all that happens, including monkey bites.

"cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you."  1 peter 5:7

letting go...

today is the day that annie has been longing for…she leaves for her beloved Africa.  and today is the day that I am both celebrating and mourning.  what joy to see my daughter embrace who she is and how God created her and His amazing plan for her.  i am thrilled for each little Ugandan child whose life she will touch, whose heart she will she love.  and i am so proud of annie, how she has grown and matured and become a young woman I greatly admire. 

 all these tremendous feelings of celebration help with the sadness of her leaving.  because I will miss her terribly.  my overjoyed and full heart also aches with loss.  and that is a beautiful thing.  it is exactly what david and i hope and pray for each of our children, that they will grow and mature and step into all that God plans for them…even though it leaves an empty place in our hearts.

 i realize that this releasing is exactly what He did for us.  allowing Jesus to step out of the joy of heaven and unity of the Trinity into the brokenness of humanity and His gracious plan of redemption.  what spectacular love in  the loss and sacrifice of the Father and the Spirit…

 so Lord here I am again, opening my hands and releasing my darling annie.  i know she was never mine to hold on to, always Yours.  from You and through You and to You.   thank you that in this too i find  Your abundant grace to to trust You.

"for from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. 

to Him be the glory forever! amen."  romans 11:36