Using the database at shorttermmissions.com, I found 42 domestic opportunities to serve during spring break. God bless our alphabet system, Alaska was at the top.
Rick and I dreamed of going to Alaska together. The day finally came that we made our decision to go – to celebrate my doctoral graduation and to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary. We began reading travel books and looking at maps to help with decisions about when and where to visit. But he died before we could go.
Participating in my first short term mission trip in Alaska is a bittersweet opportunity. But are my motives pure? Am I choosing this trip to glorify God or to selfishly fulfill some leftover dream? Must the two motives be mutually exclusive? Is God big enough to orchestrate my mission purpose and my unfulfilled dreams into one situation?
I truly believe God is giving me the desires of my heart in a way that is even more amazing than I could have imagined for myself. Isn’t that what we should expect from our big and loving Creator? Have our expectations of Him become so human-like that we question even the good things that happen to us? But can I endure this journey without Rick? I'm sure I will have moments of heartache but I believe my good God wants to make the mission trip a wonderful, transformational moment in my second year journey.
Even the highest heavens cannot contain my God (Chronicles 2:5-6).
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