Open

“Ephphatha!” (Which means “Be opened!)

Mark 7:34

“Jesus not only opens ears—
he releases and opens up your whole being—
your heart, mind, emotions, finances and every other part of your life.”

Nicky Gumble

The last time I was outside of North America was over thirteen years ago. The day before we were set to fly out for that short-term mission trip, I confirmed that I was pregnant with our fifth child (a rather humorous story, in and of itself). Fortunately for me, the campus hosts made sure we were fed frequently and well—a necessary accommodation to stave off my morning sickness. Once home on native soil, I was caught up in the throes of diapers and child-rearing, and any personal attempts at short-term mission trips were pushed back—way back—into the archives of my BC (Before Children) era.

It wasn’t that I wasn’t interested in traveling or serving on mission trips any longer; in fact, my husband and I had embarked on several overseas short-term mission and vision trips, exploring the possibilities of where God would have us land. Our oldest son had accompanied us on three of these; but when the 2020 pandemic hit, it was almost as if our missional capacities and sensitivities lapsed into torpor, a kind of hibernation.

Then in 2024, my brother’s family took a short-term mission trip to Puebla, Mexico; in February of 2025, we decided to join them. In the flurry of the days leading up to our departure, I wrestled with travel anxiety as I tried to pack and continue to conduct daily business. The only journal entries I had written down had arisen out of this anxious place in my soul:

Beset by anxiety and fear

Help me feel you are near

As you led the Israelites through desert

Cloud by day, blazing fire by night,

Two burning suns in the sky

Help me know you are nigh

You Are Faithful.

Where are we going?

Why not step out?

Challenge your status quo

And Go.

When the Israelites were led out of bondage and into the desert, their “status quo” ended up being challenged to the degree that they complained to Moses, whining how they’d rather be back in slavery than facing the hostile challenges of desert life. Their status quo had been enslavement! They had most certainly been under a heavy yoke, and so there was much rejoicing at the initial freedom they had achieved; however, even in their freedom, when things grew more difficult, they looked back at their bondage under a guise of disillusionment and covetous longing. 

Isn’t that how it is with us? We grow so accustomed to the daily grind of our busy lives, with barely a thought of reassessing if what we are doing is what we ought to be doing. And here’s another thought:  what if the “thing you had planned” that didn’t turn out the way you thought, was actually part of the Bigger Plan?