I said “yes”, when God put it on my heart to go to JAARS again, as a family. When I signed up for the JAARS 2 trip, I gave up my right to “not completely trust God to use me for His glory on this trip. I believed God would send who he wanted to be on the team and the projects we would do with the JAARS staff. I knew for sure two of our team members would be working in the hangar on airplanes.
“I will give you hidden treasures, riches stored in secret places,
so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel,
who summons you by name.” Isaiah 45:3
Ha! All the way around! Even what I thought was in concrete (working in the hangar) was not what God had in mind for this team, not at all. What I did not know was a whole other team would join us, hurricane Matthew would strike, and our trip to Waxhaw would be redirected…to Savannah! After the visit from hurricane Matthew, and reaching out to our team members, we felt we needed to stay in Savannah and serve our community. Over the last few days, we delivered lunches, made snack bags, cleaned up yard debris, listened, hugged, flipped pancakes, and packed up trucks. We listened to stories from Matthew and learned a few things along the way. In some areas, we utilized our skills and gifts and in other areas some of us were out of our comfort area. We ministered to each other as well. In between serving others, some of our team members were filing claims, waiting for repairmen and going to the hospital to meet the ambulances with her parents in them.
This was not the location of the mission trip we signed up for but this is the mission trip God had in store for us. We did not have one team member complain about a change of plan. Our team served wholeheartedly, with positive attitudes and a joyful spirit, knowing we were obeying God’s calling for us, for this time, for this purpose…for His purpose.
In their hearts humans plan their course but the LORD establishes their steps. Proverbs 16:9
– Lynne Leftwich, Team Leader
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