He can handle that.

               I’m not sure why God’s divine involvement in my life always surprises me, but it’s true –He never ceases to amaze me. This particular story had been long in coming. It started July 2011, at Piney Woods Camp. My dream to open a girls home in my area was blossoming uncontrollably, and also I was feeling convicted about not taking my knowledge about Christ over-seas. The speaker at camp showed a video of kids overseas in Kenya, at a Children’s Home, that took me straight to tears. After he preached, my group and I walked out the doors and I was still in tears. Looking to my dad, I said, “I have to go.” He nodded and I rushed back inside, looking for the speaker. Crying, I told him my story, how I’d wanted to build a girls home in my area for a long time, and how I now wanted to go overseas to a children’s home. This man, with so much compassion in his eyes, looked at me and said “Have you ever met a woman named Becky Moore? She lives in Texas, at a Children’s Home as the director of student ministry.” He paused then said, “She’s here, at piney woods, this week.” No way! Praise the Lord! Both of us at camp in the same week!? That’s gotta be God, for sure!

               So the speaker set up a time for me to meet Ms. Becky Moore, and she heard my story, and invited me to come and visit her children’s home. So I did. September of 2011, my mom and I went to South Texas Children’s Home (STCH) for a weekend. She invited me to come back anytime. Thus, I planned a trip for July 2012. Seventeen days at STCH –a place that modeled my dreams.

               And the waiting game began. I had at least six months to wait. In the mean time, my oldest brother, Hugh, left for a yearlong mission trip to travel the world. In March he told me that I needed to plan to come overseas with him sometime in 2013 and I said ‘sure’. I was yearning to go overseas with a conviction that everyone is called to take the gospel, everywhere. (I was called overseas and so was everyone else who was a disciple: Matt. 28:19.) But still, I had to wait. God was surely doing marvelous things while I was waiting.

Meanwhile, I got a job at a day care. I had already warned them about my trip to STCH, but I was filling out papers to ask off officially, and I felt God telling me to ask off for more days than I was; a total of twenty days. Long story short; I didn’t, until some interesting news came up. Surely it was no mistake that while I would be at STCH, schedules conflicted and Ms. Becky, whom I would be living with there, realized that while I would be there, she wouldn’t! She was going to be leading a mission trip overseas to the Dominican Republic, on July 28^th – August 2^nd, staying at a Children’s Home there and doing some light construction. Bless Ms. Becky –she invited me to go! Hardly did she know that I had felt God calling me overseas. Yet God knew it all. I told her that I would be absolutely delighted to go to the D.R. with her. Seeing as God had already told me to ask off for those dates I felt like that was my answer from Him that I needed to go. That would mean eleven days at STCHM, and seven days at a children’s home in the D.R. and that is a total of how many days (plus travel)? Oh, twenty. Go figure.

And my mind is blown. Yet, the devil tried to crawl in, telling me ‘twenty days. That’s a long time. Won’t you get homesick? How will you handle it? You’ll be missing lots of exciting things here. You will miss your family and friends and church family. What about your horse? Three weeks is a long time. Maybe you shouldn’t go.’ The devil invaded my thoughts, making me insecure, scared, terrified, nervous, and timid. The butterflies of excitement slowly turned into a bolder to drown me. My brain was pulled in every direction of worry. Finally I had a day with Micayla and let it all out (a big job for me) and she looked at me and shook her head. “Candice, God told you to go on this trip, right?” “Uhuh.” “So why are you freaking out? He knows you’ll get homesick, and He can handle that. Give it over to Him and He’ll take care of you.” He can handle that. Sha-bam! Instantly, my boulder transformed back into butterflies. My crazy best friend had just defeated the devil with just simple truth.

               So amid my small bit of fear, large amount of anxiousness, and extreme excitement, I am going to leave home, following the One that can handle it. AHH! Deep breaths, Candice. Please, please, pray for me as I spiritually get prepared to go. Also, pray that God will provide everything from money to peace.