Which will it be?

It has been a while since I have blogged because of the craziness that has come upon me. I am leaving the country in 12 days! Yes- 12 days! It has definitely been a process of trusting, freaking out, and than having to trust again...but I am almost there. I have been challenged these past couple weeks and have failed at most of those challenges but have grown from it all. I have been reminded that I am going to do work...not shop or see the world, but to ultimately change lives through the love of Christ. I will face many trials and dark places, and knowing what I am getting into makes it all the harder to keep a grasp of why I'm there. I was reminded of a story recently that I have been told all to well by my amazing daddy. And if you know my dad...you know he loves stories and he loves telling them. But he was telling the one of the soldiers who died on D Day on the beaches of Normandy. And the story goes a little something like this.....On D Day we lost so many men. I mean thousands and thousands died in just one day. And after we had won the battle a reporter was talking with a General and he asked..."Why did your men keep fighting knowing that they would probably die? They must have really hated the Nazis?" And the General responded with this simple answer, "It was not the hate of the Nazis in front of them that kept them going, it was the love of the men behind them." Stepping into this dark and unknown world makes me sometimes think it is because of my hatred of the evil that I am doing what I'm doing. But it's not, its the love that I have for those girls that don't know what love is. It's the family and friends behind me that are praying me through it. It's the command that Christ wants for all of our lives. Yes Victory over the enemy is always the goal, but the love behind you is what gets you to that victory. The things we do in life can either be for the hatred of the ones in front of us, or for the love of the people behind us. Which will it be? As for me I will choose love!