Kids Watch What We Do, Not What We Say!

This will be my final post about our Ecuador mission trip.  I hope you are not tired of hearing about this awesome journey God took us on.  In fact, I hope it inspired you to step out and follow your heart.  The bible says that God gives us the desires of our heart if we delight ourselves in HIM. Psalm 37:4.  I truly believe that God gets excited when he sees us stepping out on faith to fulfill HIS plan and purpose for our lives.

I don’t want you to think that this journey happened without any bumps in the road because that isn’t the case.  In fact, we had several bumps before, during and after our journey of which I will share with you next week.  We learned so many life lessons as a result of pressing through the things that tried to stop us and keeping our eye on the prize.  We also felt a pull like nothing we ever experienced before to the country of Ecuador.

As parents, we try to raise up our kids the best we know how and sometimes we blow it and that is when God’s grace covers us.  What I discovered more than ever before is that when we surrender our kids to the Lord HE will take care of them. HE will change their hearts.  The old saying that kids watch what we do and not what we say is really true.  Our lives speak to them and to others that are watching us.  Like it or not, our kids are soaking up values from us every day about how to live, how to work, how to love and how to spend money.  And if we are constantly desiring things we don’t need and are insignificant, why would we expect anything else from them.

The day before we left both of my kids were giving away their clothes they brought with them to Ecuador to the kids they became friends with because they realized how much abundance they have and how little they really need to be happy and fulfilled.  One of their friends was robbed and my kids decided to help raise money for him to get him back on his feet.  They also were able to get a lot of their friends to stay in contact with the orphanage and visit the children.  I’m so proud of my kids for opening their hearts and allowing God to do a work in them that only HE could do.

This trip has taught us that we can live happy lives with so little and true living is doing something for someone who can never repay you.  I’m so grateful for the transformation that took place in all of our hearts.  We are forever changed by this journey.