My God moment(s) with Sarah

Sarah Joy.  My original baby girl. I swear that child came out of the womb quoting Psalm 100 and teaching all the other babies in the hospital nursery calculus. She begged us to get saved when she was in pre-school.  I remember us putting it off, trying to wait until  we thought she really understood.  When we picked her up from pre-school, her teacher was telling us she kept talking about wanting to get saved, what it meant, and how her parents were making her wait! Okay, so the kid got it and she prayed to ask Jesus in her heart that night!  She was always playing "church" with her babies. She would sit them all (15 of them) up against the wall next to a piano we had in the house at Boys Town and make them sing hymns. I knew then she had the hand of God on her and would do something great for him and I better prepare my heart then to someday "let her go."

 

I kept a prayer book of sorts for my kids. I would jot prayers and the dates and scripture that went along with 2 year old temper tantrums, lost papers at school, and ear infections that wouldn't go away.  I remember when Sarah was in 1st grade and I felt so strongly that she would become a missionary that I actually wept and prayed thinking about her leaving us to go off to some third world country to be eaten by Indians.  (I was really into Elisabeth Elliot at the time- lol) Yes, that was my irrational prayer that didn't even make sense. But I kept writing those prayers for all my kiddo's, crazy fears and all.

The summer of 2010 we took our youth group to Glorietta, New Mexico to participate in MFuge.  This is part mission trip, part youth camp.  We have never pressured Sarah to become a missionary.  In fact, since she knew all the down and dirty of ministry growing up in a ministry family - we would consider ourselves lucky if she didn't leave the church all together some day! :) But she went forward during MFuge on a Thursday night and gave her life over to full time ministry - and felt special call of God to missions. She felt God calling her to be a sports missionary, possibly leading basketball camps in Africa. Her dad and I rejoiced and hugged and prayed and I secretly prayed for protection against those Indians!

     This is one of my all time favorite pictures of us - and it was taken during that week of Mfuge!

Several months after we returned from camp and the school year was back in full swing I was looking through old prayer journals for the kids. 

I came across this entry (look at the bottom of the picture). This was written 6 years before she gave her heart over to the call of missions.

I called Sarah into the bedroom, showed it to her and it was another tear filled, goosebump, God moment.  Everything that we both felt like God had spoken quietly to us over the years was confirmed in that moment.

She finished out her high school years, playing basketball, ministering in her school and through our church.  She spent time as a summer missionary through the Southern Baptist Convention in Kentucky.  Her major at SBU is in Intercultural Studies with a plan to go to the mission field.  Now don't get me wrong - we had our share of normal teenage knock down, drag out, yelling, slamming doors nights.  She's been grounded from her car, and had her bedroom door removed from its hinges and stored in the garage much to her teenage horror. But her heart always returned back to Jesus.

This summer we had our big garage sale.  (You can read about it in my previous blog "Cow skulls and Kids not for sale") Sarah put out all her stuff, and as I was looking through her things I noticed some basketball shoes she had put a $1.00 sticker on.  I actually plucked them out of someone's hand because I noticed something on them that made those shoes absolutely priceless to me. 

         She had written scripture on her school basketball shoes.  Those verses went up and down the court with her every single game. 

                     That's my sports missionary whether she goes over seas or not.  That's my girl. And Sarah Joy, if you happen to come across this blog in the middle of the night during a late night (hopefully study break) - we are praying that verse over you which carried up and down the court during basketball season Ezra 10:4 "Rise up, this matter is in your hands.  We will support you, so take courage and do it."  You can accomplish everything God has for you.  Love you baby girl.