Preparing Our Hearts

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

Romans 15:13

I am starting this blog so others who are interested can follow our journey in preparing for our first mission trip and so you can feel like you will be right there with us. BTW.. I have never blogged before. I simply hope you can come along for the ride!

One of the greatest days of my life was finding my Father Jesus Christ. But to find the one that The Lord puts in your path to fulfill His purpose for you is a gift! Not only individually but as one. On date three we knew our purpose together was to be missionaries. Not only in our day to day lives but to take it even farther. Justin's passion to give and his huge heart stole my love. Sounds easy.. Because with God at the center you can't go wrong. Right? But it's not ALWAYS "easy". We've been married for 2 months and I've learned a few things thus far. I'm not perfect and neither is your spouse. Always love. Forgive. Be patient. Put God at the center. ALWAYS ask God for guidance when a conflict arises. We will continue to grow and become stronger. With that being said .... Faith. Never give up on your faith. I'm so excited for this adventure with my best-friend! I know I'm getting off track... Back to the mission!

We have been blessed with an opportunity to take this passion to HAITI! God's calling us and financially the timing makes no sense but through Christ it makes ALL the sense. We would be traveling with a Christian organization called Adventures In Missions. They focus on discipleship and prayer. Founded in 1989 they now offer hundreds of trips all over the world. Our trip will start December 27th, 2015 and we will return 7 days later. We will have the blessing to volunteer in local orphanages and minister to the people of Haiti. In 2010 Haiti was hit with a devastating earthquake. Turned their homes into rubble. The homes of Haiti still remain in đisaster, while Haiti still continues to be the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. 
If we make it on this mission I can only hope that the spirit guides are words. I hope to help open their hearts for Jesus so he can jump right in! Lately I've been thinking about how Haiti's people must be feeling. I can imagine having nothing. But I can't imagine not having God. With God you have everything. So, to bring His truth and His word back to them means EVERYTHING. Material items mean nothing. I've been waking up feeling so undeserving of everything I have. I should NOT complain ever again... Some people literally have nothing. I consider money to be God's money...not my own. All these things come and they go. But people, friends, family, relationships, and our brothers and sisters all over the world we get to take with us FOREVER! What a gift! 

We continue to prepare our hearts for God's journey for us and trust in Him.

God bless,

Ashley