"Not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these."

Just the other day, I opened an old prayer journal  book and found it.  I come across it every so often.  A dried up bouquet of flowers and weeds.  And that is when I lift her and my former team, up in prayer.                

Linda Carlson…  A name that is stored in my heart from 1995.  I met 9 year old Linda during my tour with MAI as a soccer player in Sweden.  I still remember walking up to the camp we (Charlotte Eagles Women’s Mission Soccer Team) were going to run for the day, and seeing the young strawberry blonde‘s grin!  She was full of life.  Throughout the day, I got to know Linda.  She taught me some Swedish, I taught her some soccer.  She shared her stories, I shared Jesus.  During a short walk thru the park area where we were doing soccer camp, the girls in my group listened to us try to attempt Swedish as the girls giggled at our accents.  They showed us a flower, then gulped it up—showing us a few of the wild flowers they ate there and sharing the bitter petals with us.  During that little walk, Linda gave me a little bouquet of wild flowers and weeds.  Her beautiful gleaming smile boasted as she said, “I picked these for you!”  I cherished the sweet gift, and later that evening, tucked that little bouquet away in my trip journal with some napkin and tagging her name and date on them.   

A dried up, fragile bouquet.  They no longer are alive, but are brown and brittle.  But when I come across these once beautiful flowers, the memories are as alive as that bouquet was.  And I pray for Linda;  that God would watch over her, to guide her in whatever she is going through in life.  That she would be reminded of God’s love for her.  She is probably 25 today.  I have never gotten to hear or see from her, but I know, that God let me part of her life for a little while so I could be part of her life forever in Him.  Isn’t that just like  Jesus?   To be sure His sheep are cared for and covered in prayer.   

That is what God accomplishes on mission trips.   He lets you see, touch, and love His people all over the world.  He changes their lives.  He changes yours.   Today.  And forever.   I am grateful to be able to travel with MAI all over again.  But this time, as a leader and mentor.   Would you pray for those we will be meeting this year?  That hearts would be open to His message and that we would be open to be the vessel for Him to use.  That through soccer, or matches, or camps, or walks in the woods, that Christ's love would be spread.