Tomorrow will be exactly one month until I leave for Malawi! It is hard to believe that I have been planning and preparing for over three months now. I have gotten all of my shots...I have my malaria pills... I have purchased gifts for my interpreter and the widow that I sponsor...I have learned many Chichewa words...I have practiced "bible storying" (a way of spreading the gospel used in many areas where the people don't have access to bibles of their own)...I have practiced giving my testimony in 30 seconds or less...I have prayed, and prayed, and prayed....I am as ready as I can get without losing all spontineity.

God has provided for me continually and creatively. I am not only ready to go, but fully expectant for the things unseen and unknown that God has planned.

For those of you who read this blog (it's strange because I can see how many people read this daily but I have no idea who you are...let me take this opportunity to thank you because I never would have believed how many people are reading...writing this blog daily was something that God asked me to do for discipline)...and for those of you who pray, I would ask that you pray that God would use me, both on this trip and during my life time, to reach a great multitude for His kingdom.

My life has been bought at a price, and I am waiting to be spent exactly how, where and when, Jesus desires to spend me.

"Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price.Therefore, honor God with your bodies." - 1Cor 6:19-20...and your minds, and your emotions, and your spirits....and your money...and your pain...and your will...and your attitude...and your (be creative and add some more things here:  ____________________________________________________________________ ).

As I await the day of departure, I consider that no matter what I am doing, or where I am going, God requires of me to be an encourager. 1Thes 5:11, and Hebrews 10:24-25 tell me so. The word encourage in the Greek  is parakaleo. Jesus said that when He went away, He would send another "comforter", the Holy Spirit. The word comforter (paraclete) comes from two Greek words: para, which means "with" or "along side of", and kletes, which means a "call". When you put them together, it means that Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit  be in us, to walk with us through this pain filled life as our Encourager! God says that you and I can be a praraclete, an encourager, to those we encounter.

Verbal encouragement includes the idea of one person joining another on a journey and speaking words that inspire the travelor to keep pressing on, depsite obstacles and fatigue. As a parent and a mentor, I walk alongside those whom I am discipling and do just that. As a disciple, Jesus walks along side me and encourages me.

Today I choose to be an encourager as I have been so well encouraged!
Have a blessed and glorious day!