What I Haven’t Told You About My Trip to Africa

Last Updated on May 2, 2019 by Stacy Averette

I leave for Africa in five days. It’s a trip I’ve always wanted to take and one that I’m sure will change my life forever. As I prepare to fly half-way around the world, leaving behind home and family for two weeks, I’m carefully choosing what to pack and what to leave behind. In this post I’m opening my heart (not my suitcase) with hopes to encourage you on your journey.

 

What I Haven’t Told You About My Trip to Africa

1. I’m not excited {yet}.

If I had a dollar for every person who’s ask me, “Are you excited?” I’d trade in my economy ticket for a first class seat. (I’ve never traveled in first class so I can only imagine what I’m missing.) Alas, I am not excited (yet) about this trip. I’ve lied to you who’ve asked and said I was. I’m sorry. I don’t want seem ungrateful, unspiritual, and unChristian by answering, “No, I’m really not excited about going to Africa {yet}. For goodness sake, I have stuff to do before I go half-way around the world for two weeks.”

Tell me. What good Christian woman going on the trip of a lifetime, taking Jesus to Africa, wouldn’t be excited? Uhm. That would be me. Don’t judge.

Which brings me to the second thing I haven’t told you about my trip to Africa.

2. I’m anxious.

Did I mention that I’m flying half-way around the world nonstop? I’ll be on a plane, in the air, for a whole day of my life! Then for two weeks, I’ll be eating and sleeping and talking with people I don’t really know. I’ve already shared that I’m going to Africa with fear and great joy but did I mention I’m a homebody? At home, I know my people and my food and my bed. I know what I’m doing today and how to do it. Not knowing makes me anxious.

Which brings me to the third thing I haven’t told you about my trip to Africa.

3. I don’t know

Yep. You read that correctly.

I. Don’t. Know.

Wednesday, June 15, we’re flying from Nashville to Washington, DC to Johannesburg, South Africa. We’ll be working alongside a pastor in the Zambezi River Valley sharing the gospel through the Jesus Film and water filters. We have plans to see Victoria Falls. On June 30, we’ll fly out of Johannesburg and back to the U.S. That’s it. That’s all I know. Some of you are thinking, “So what else do you need to know?”

Only EVERYTHING!

Details, people. I need details. Like a schedule, daily itinerary, and detailed map. I feel sure that if I had all of those things and knew more details, I’d be excited. You see, it’s not what I know that’s making me really anxious, it’s what I don’t know.

And now you know I’m not just a homebody. I’m also an ungrateful, unspiritual, unChristian control freak.  We’ll, not really. OK, sometimes.

Which brings me to the last thing I haven’t told you about my trip to Africa.

4. Jesus is taking me to Africa

Jesus is taking me to Africa. I hope I have the chance to share Jesus while I’m there. I feel confident I will. But the truth is, this trip isn’t as much about me taking Jesus to Africa as it is about Jesus taking me.

Because:

• I’m not excited {yet}
• I’m anxious
• I don’t know what I don’t know

And because Jesus wants me to trust Him and to rest in Him more than He wants anything else for me, He’s taking me to Africa. He’s not sending me. He’s taking me—with Him.

 What I’ve Learned Preparing for My Trip

I don’t have to be excited, it’s OK to feel anxious, and I don’t have to know all the details to go.

What I’ve learned is this: Surrender.

I just need to go to Africa with Jesus. He knows me, He loves me, and He wants me to trust Him.

And I do.

Because this.

The measure of success is obedience to God, not my feelings or the visible results. Tweet this

I don’t know all that God wants to do in and through me in the coming days, but I know that all He does is for my good and His glory. And I’m in. I’m going to Africa with Jesus.

What About You?

This post isn’t just about me. Yes, I’m going to Africa but that’s not the main point of this story. I shared so that you might ask yourself this question:

“Where is Jesus taking me?”

Friend, you’re not reading this by accident today. God is at work in your life wherever you are.

Please consider these questions:

1. What experiences, trials, heartaches, challenges, opportunities, or disappointments are on your calendar these days?

2. What thoughts and feelings about these experiences, especially the ones you might not talk about, do you need to offer to Jesus?

Wherever He’s taking you, go with Him! He’s not sending you off alone. He’s taking you with Him, if you’ll go.

Learn the loving lessons He wants to teach you.

You mean the world to Him. He knows you, He loves you, and He wants you to trust Him. Will you?

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