The Journey Has Begun!!!

Today has been an amazing and exhausting day.  I arrived in Denver yesterday and spent today in training with the Journey Corps team.  They are a great group of students who are anxious and excited to experience God in Africa.  There are some nervous emotions as some program changes have come about but God is in control and is not surprised by the changes.

We leave tomorrow morning for Africa!  I can't believe it's here already.  I'm so excited to see what God is going to do in and through me.  I'm missing Dan and Parker desperately already.  I don't know how much I'll be able to communicate with them while there gone and that's what I'm struggling with the most.

Thank you for your prayers up to this point.  Please continue to pray for me and the team as we start our travel tomorrow and arrive in Ivory Coast.  Pray that we don't miss what God wants to teach all of us.  Pray that He would be so real to us through this experience.

I hope to be able to blog some while I'm there so check back!!!

Parker's 2!!

Today is Parker's 2nd birthday!  I can't believe I have a 2-year-old.  We were going to do a small party with a few friends over the weekend but I was so fried by the end of last week after somewhat unexpectedly going back to work, I didn't get anything together...great mom, right??  PLUS, Parker started running a fever Friday afternoon and did off and on all weekend.  Poor girl is getting all 4 eye teeth in at the same time and they're really hurting her...more than any of her other teeth have seemed to bother her.  Anyway, we ended up just doing dinner and cake at my parents house last night.  

Parker loves butterflies so I decided to make her a butterfly cake.

Me and my girl!

The present opening process went very fast.  Parker went from one bag to the next, pulling the gift out and dropping it on the floor.  

"Happy birthday to Parker!!"

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Life in the Lyle household has changed drastically in the last few days.  I suddenly find myself a full-time working mom and Parker is going to school!  It has seriously been a whirlwind the last 5 days or so.  Dan and I had kind of been talking about me going back to work but hadn't really decided for sure whether or not it was going to happen.  Last Thursday, I decided to just look online and get an idea of what was out there.  All I did was Google "Executive Assistant Positions in Tampa, FL" and found a listing for a position with Construction for Worldwide Evangelism.  When I opened it up, I recognized the name of the manager as the gentleman who our church does a lot of mission trips through.  Construction for Worldwide Evangelism didn't ring a bell because it's familiar to me as CWE.  This was way too coincidental for me to ignore so I sent my resume.  I got a call Friday asking if I could come in Monday morning for an interview.  I interviewed yesterday, they offered me the position yesterday afternoon and asked me to be there this morning at 7:00am.  It was pretty crazy.  I still can't get over how fast it happened!

In the midst of this, I was having to figure out what I was going to do with Parker in the event I was to go back to work.  I visited a few different preschools in the area and decided on one that I think is going to be great for Parker.  When we went back last night to drop off the paperwork to enroll her she said, "my school!!"  She was so excited, which made me feel a little more at ease about the whole thing.

So today was my first day back in the working world and Parker's first day of school!  I'm exhausted just thinking about all that has happened the last few days...not to mention the fact that I had to get up at 4:45am!  So not use to that!!  It'll probably take all of us a few days...or weeks...to adjust to this new season but we're all excited about it.  It was hard to drop Parker off this morning knowing I wouldn't get to spend my whole day with her.  But I can't deny the fact that God was fully instrumental in this whole thing.  He provided in so many ways that we were not expecting and really couldn't even have dreamed of.  He truly is a good God!

So close...and still so far!

First of all, I have to say a huge thank you to all of you who have given to me financially to help get me to Africa.  I know I've already said this, but it has been truly amazing to see God provide from some of the most unexpected places.  I've received checks from people I haven't seen or spoken with in many years, some of whom have little money themselves.  But they were sensitive and obedient to the Holy Spirit and I praise God for that obedience!

Earlier this week, I was really concerned about the financial side of my trip.  I could not see how I was going to have enough money to go.  I even emailed a few of the pastors at my church seeking guidance...do I keep "pressing on" as if I'm going and trust the funds to come in or do I put what I've raised so far towards a future trip?  I NEED TO LEAVE FOR DENVER IN 20 DAYS AND FOR AFRICA 2 DAYS AFTER THAT!! (Can you hear the panic in my voice??) The responses were exactly what I thought they would be:  that I should not let money get in the way of going on this trip, that I need to keep moving forward and making preparations to go and to trust that the money will be provided.  

After that email correspondence (and a little bit of freaking out on my part), I received two checks in the mail totaling $125.  I had been waiting to send my paperwork in for my visa because in my mind, it doesn't make sense to send in for my visa when I don't even know if I'm going to have enough money to go.  But in light of the advice I received and praying about it (imagine that!), I went today and did the check request I needed to do in order to get my visa.  When I got home from doing that, I had another $200 in the mail.  God is so good!!

Now I'm just a few hundred dollars away from what I'll need to cover my whole trip.  I still have to purchase a ticket to Denver to meet up with the team for training before we leave and I need about $200 to cover my room and board while I'm in Ivory Coast.

Will you be the one?  Will you fill in the gap and provide that last little bit?  Some of the most amazing gifts I've received had the smallest dollar amounts on the check.  They're amazing to me because I know the heart and sacrifice behind them.  Please don't let not being able to give a large amount stop you from giving.  God can use it all!  I know that you will be blessed by joining me in this ministry as we help to train missionaries to spread the Gospel to the Ivory Coast and beyond.

For information on how to give, please send me an email at sclyle@gmail.com or leave a comment below and I'll contact you with the details.

For more information about Journey Corps and the training facility in Ivory Coast, visit www.myjourneycorps.com.

Heartbroken

I just watched last night's episode of Glee online.  How heartbreaking.  If you didn't see the episode, it was all about spirituality, God and whether or not He exists.  I cried through most of it because I know people who believe the way Kurt and Sue believe: that there is no God and people who believe there is are crazy.  

One of the great things about our country is that we are free to express our beliefs, regardless of what they might be.  However, as Christians, we are often looked down upon for what we believe.  The episode starts out with Finn making a grilled cheese sandwich that he thinks looks like Jesus.  He calls it "grilled cheesus" and starts praying to it.  If that's not making fun of Christians for what we believe, I don't know what is.  The whole show wasn't like that - Mercedes invited Kurt to go to church with her and encouraged him that he has to believe in something sacred because this life is too hard on our own.  And Sue's sister asked if she could pray for her.  Sue said "that would be nice."  Even people who don't believe in God want prayer.

We need to be aware of what people outside our little Christians circles believe.  Thoughts and feelings like this are real and it should absolutely break our hearts.  If it doesn't, we should be examining our own hearts very closely.  When we hear people talk about God the way Kurt did, it should drive us to our knees in prayer for these people.  Then we have to get up from our knees and do something about it.  We have the Truth and we have to share it.  The group Go Fish has a great line in their song "Gotta Move" that says, "The Gospel is the Gospel, you don't have to sell it.  It can change the hardest hearts, you just have to tell it."  Jesus has already done the work for us, we just have to tell it.

Africa Planning Has Begun!

I've received the go ahead to start planning events for while we're in Ivory Coast.  I'm so excited!  I've started communicating with a couple of the people on the team there via email to start putting stuff together.  I've also been informed by my brother-in-law that he volunteered me to make chocolate chip cookies while I'm there.  Anything for Kingdom of God!! 

We leave in about four weeks.  I can hardly believe it.  I'm still in the process of raising funds to get there but God is faithful and providing every day and from some unexpected places.  I know that he will provide everything I need in order to serve Him.

Please be praying for our team.  I believe that the closer we get to our departure, the more acutely we will feel the attack of Satan in our lives.  He wants to discourage us from trusting God in any way he possibly can.  We need to be focused on God more than ever.  We received an email from the Director based in Ivory Coast about this.  Here's what he said: "We want to emphasize the importance of preparing spiritually. You will be entering a spiritual battleground. This is one of Satan’s strongholds and he is not giving it up without a fight. Remember that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12)."

This has been a crazy journey so far and I cannot wait to see what else God does in me and through me and through the team.  Waiting expectantly on the Lord is a thrilling place to be!