This Day Goes Down in History

32 years ago today will forever be cemented in our hearts and lives as Vern, Caleb, Seth, and I got on an Eastern airlines flight and left the comforts of North America as we headed to Venezuela for the first time.  Vern and I were both 24 years old.  Vern had been to Brazil on two different missions trips.  I however, was in no way a world traveler as I had never even been outside of North America.  As a matter of fact, as we took off from Miami there was all this steam coming out of the air conditioning vents and I actually turned to Vern and said I thought the plane might be on fire.  There of course were all sorts of emotions going on inside of me of what life would be like for us.  Would we be able to handle the heat, bugs, tropical diseases that might plague us?  How would we handle the years of separation from family? (This was before the internet and when phoning overseas was VERY expensive.) How would our boys adjust to this new life ahead?  Did we have what it takes for this new missionary life ahead of us? And the list goes on.  Was life overseas an adjustment? YES!  Was it heat intense, and living with HUGE cockroaches GROSS?  YES!  Was it hard to live so far away from family?  Yes!  We missed so many special family events like missing four of my brothers weddings, which was so very hard.  Did we have what is takes to make it in Venezuela? There is a big NO on that one.  But you know what? GOD DID!  God has a perfect record of faithfulness and he wasn't about to blow his record on us.  How I thank the Lord for how he took us through every deep valley and also gave us some mountain top views as well.  So as I reflect on this anniversary date it is another reminder of God's loving kindness and his faithfulness to us.  I don't know the path ahead.  Am I equipped for the next twists and turns in life?  NO!  BUT GOD IS!!!!!  This sunrise picture is something Elisha sent me this morning.  It brought tears to my eyes and it was yet another reminder that "His mercies are new every morning". We need to  be sharing our stories with each other and reminding each other that we are not alone on this jounrey in life.  

 Our Family 32 years Ago

"HIS MERCIES ARE NEW EVERY MORNING!"