Going in Hope

I saw the looks. The raised brows. The jaw drops. Yes, I was returning to China for a mission trip with all 5 kids including my 3 year old immunocompromised child. And I was taking another high school student. So, in total it would be myself and 6 kids under the age of 16. All traveling to China, for nearly three weeks, to walk among the needs. It was not for a sightseeing tour, not that that would be a piece of cake either. It would be a working trip. A service trip. Hence, the reactions.

I have thought about what my reaction and thoughts would be if I were on the outside looking in at me and what I was doing. I suppose the questions would enter my mind. Why? Why travel with all of those kids? Wouldn't it be easier to leave the kids at home? Wouldn't more get accomplished without children present? What would possess someone to do this? Has she finally, once and for all, lost her mind?

For some of these questions, I cannot even give an answer. Well, maybe it's that I cannot give an answer that would satisfy the onlookers. Maybe it's that there is no logical answer as to how I CAN do this. Because it really is something beyond human which enables this type of work by a single mother of 5, along with all 5 kids and a bonus kid in tow. That is for certain. It is purely divine although even among some fellow believers it seems that this answer could continue to be resisted and/or questioned.

But then, then there is the evidence. The coming out of the haze of jet lag and looking at the images of what happened. The proof. Of what is happening when my eyes are not on them. This is so much more than me. It always has been. I do not have the control or the power to do what is being done in the lives of my girls. It's impossible and illogical.

The only answer I can give to the onlookers, and to myself, is that it is God doing this work in and through us. And that I will never have all of the answers as to why. We only say yes. And we go. He is doing all the rest.