John 16:33

Typically, before our trips things start happening that could have the potential to make us second guess our choice to go. In years past, headlines about plane issues would make us a little leery of flying. For example, last year in February (just a few weeks after we purchased our airline tickets through Continental Airlines) there was a plane crash just miles away from the Buffalo airport. What plane was it? A Continental plane. Actually it turned out to be the exact same model that we would fly from Buffalo to Newark last year.   Then a few months later, a plane "vanished" over the Atlantic Ocean, leaving no survivors. And just days before we left a pilot died on a flight from Brussels to Newark (he wasn't sitting at the controls at the time, and other pilots safely landed the plane).   It was a little nerve racking when we'd read those headlines or hear them on tv, but in the end it never deterred us from going.   This year, the messages coming to us are a little different. Instead of sowing seeds of fear, the devil is sowing seeds of doubt. This doubt comes through negative comments of people around us in regards to their opinions about my return to Uganda.   Now I know people mean well, but some people take it a little too far.   Today I was visiting my dentist. He asked me what I was up to, if I had a job, what my plans were – just the typical depressing questions for a person who's been sick for the past 10 months and doesn't have a job. But I answered all the questions very sweetly.   When he found out this was a religious trip and that I'd come home sick last year but decided to go back this summer, he told me that I shouldn't because I "it's not worth the risk of getting sick again." He said that people have been trying to spread Christianity for thousand of years and there are still people who haven't heard, so I shouldn't go because there would still be people left over for me later.   Someone else yelled at my mom for letting me go back despite the fact I'm an adult and then said that I was being selfish to go back.   These are some of the more extreme cases, but many people have expressed their concerns. And while these are legitimate fears, some of which we've had ourselves, they plant a seed of negativity in our minds that grows. And the thing with doubts is they never travel alone. We don't usually have just one doubt. We may start with one, but that one leads to another which leads to another, and soon we have this long list of reasons why whatever we're thinking is a bad idea.   So how do we know that what is God's plan? When these doubts arise I dive into God's word. And when I have come to him with my growing list of reasons why I shouldn't go, he always leads me to the same conclusion:   You serve Me.   God has revealed His promises to me, He has given me a vision of what this trip will be like. I know I'll have struggles, but I also know that being in His will for my life will bless me beyond measure and affect my life as well as those I come in contact with for His glory.   And I can't wait to see what He does.   - Aly