DETOUR AHEAD.....

I quit my job.

Yep, you read it right.

I quit my job.

No, I didn't like get mad and walk out quit, I worked out a 30 day notice.

After 22 years, yesterday was my last day at Love & Care.

I first felt like it was time to make a change in January of this year. Since then, I've had an increasing feeling with each passing month.

Those of you who read my blog know I believe God has a plan and a purpose for everything, good and bad.

I believe His ways are higher than my ways and that He knows what's best for me in my life.

God recently placed a very special Friend in my life. I believe nothing happens by chance and I know one reason God allowed our paths to cross is specifically for this time in my life.

She wrote these words to me recently ....
"There is an old quip about how to make God laugh: Tell Him your plans!"

Thank you, Earlene, not only for being my Friend, but for sharing your words of wisdom.
If God had a refrigerator, your picture would surely be on it.

I had no plans of going anywhere. I thought I would grow old working there. I loved my job. I was content. I was in my comfort zone.

Then one by one, things started to change , small at first, but change nevertheless.

Don't get me wrong, not all change is bad.

However, I do believe that when God has something for us to do and we aren't responding as fast as He wants us to, He will allow things to become uncomfortable enough that we sit up a little straighter and start paying closer attention.

That is what happened to me.

Love & Care will always have a special place in my heart. My friends there are like family to me but the plans I had for my life are not the plans HE had for my life.

So, I'm taking a detour.



Sometimes, when we see the DETOUR AHEAD sign we get aggravated about having to take a different route. Maybe the new road is unfamiliar, or even frightening. Maybe it's bumpy, seems too narrow, or steep. We then spend alot of time and energy asking "Why?", "Why me?", "Why did I have to take this detour?" "This is not what I had planned"

Why do we do this?

I'll tell ya why.

Because we tell God OUR plan instead of seeking HIS plan.

When I look at the road I only see what's right in front of my eyes, the immediate area. I see the detour and what's around it but I can't tell you why there's a detour. I can tell you it's interrupting my plans and I don't appreciate it much.

BUT.......

God, in His infinite wisdom, is looking down over the WHOLE thing and can see not only the detour but the REASON behind the detour as well.

Maybe the road is out up ahead and the detour is allowing me to avoid danger.

I may never know why there was a detour.

Whatever the reason, it is for my good.


11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (NIV)
Jeremiah 29:11


I am excited to see where the detour leads.

It may be the most beautiful road I've ever been on, that no doubt, I would have missed otherwise.

“Every end is a new beginning”
~Proverb~


Love you MUCH!

=],
Gracie

God Can Use Ordinary People To Do Extraordinary Things.....

Hello Friends!

I have been missing in action.

I have so much to tell you.

It'll definitely take several posts to catch you up on everything that has been going on.

Remember I went with a group of 30 other people to San Bartolo, Lempira, Honduras the week of April 17th-24th on a Medical Mission Trip?

Our medical team consisted of 1 Doctor, 4 Nurses, 3 Dentists, and 4 Pharmacists. There were a host of other people, Pastors, Children's Ministries, Food Workers, and other helpers that were essential to the success of the week.

There was nothing at all special about those of us that went. Simply God using ordinary people to do extraordinary things.

Here are the details of the week.....

300 people led to Christ with 7 rededications.

927 children heard the gospel.

2117 patients were treated in medical clinic.

12,000 prescriptions filled.

513 Dental patients.

981 teeth pulled.

400 eye patients.

303 pairs of glasses dispensed.

3 minor surgical procedures performed.

I thought we were gonna get to deliver a baby while we were there but it just didn't happen, lol. We treated a lady in clinic that was 9 months pregnant, who had walked, yes walked, 3 hours to see us, only to wait another 5 hours in line. She hadn't seen a doctor or midwife her ENTIRE pregnancy.

Isn't that unbelievable?

I remember nearly having a panic attack trying to get my 4th ultrasound approved with Kylee, not to mention those countless visits to the Dr's office.

We are blessed indeed.

I thought I'd share some pictures with you from my week, surprised huh?

It's amazing to know the Creator of the Universe, who placed each cloud in the sky, is madly in love with me

Beautiful Country of Honduras

Selling fish by the side of the road

Homes

Nice Homes

Welcome to San Bartolo, Lempira, Honduras

People waiting for the gate to open

Me and Belkis, My Sweet Translator

The Medical Clinic

Look at these eyes =)

Beautiful Mother and her Baby Girl

Adorable

The Pastor of the Local Church

Sweet Girl

So Beautiful

Such a Little Man

Most of these kids came through the clinic without a parent

Sweet Baby Boy

How cute is this?

Blonde Hair, Green Eyed girl is not a common site in Honduras

Lots of respiratory sickness because of all the dust and dirt roads

This boy is so adorable =)

She is cute too!

The playground at the school where we stayed and worked at, pretty sad, huh?

This is the Girls Bathroom.
There was no light, so even in the daytime you had to take a flashlight to the bathroom with you. You were in bad shape if you forgot it. =)

We slept on old Army cots.
I slept under a mosquito net, not everyone did.

These are our showers.
Yes, we did get showers everyday, though they were ICE cold.
Didn't matter though, it was most appreciated.

It was an awesome week. It is great to be a part of such an amazing group of people who simply want to be the Hands and Feet of Christ and tell others about Him.

I have much more to tell.......

Love you MUCH!

=],