A Cup of Cold Water

"Lord Jesus, we have asked that you lead us and guide us.  We praise you and thank you for doing so.  You are leading us on this journey!  We thank you for the confirmations that you have been giving us as we take each new step in following you on this journey into foreign missions!  Amen!" Our house is SOLD!   This was another significant step of faith for us, handing it all over to the Lord.  Step by step we are getting closer to our departure date. Here was a little of the process of getting our house ready: Sorting, purging, boxing, sending. Does it stay for now?  Should it go today? Who would like this?  Can somebody use that? How many more days can she play with it?  Bring it to Louisiana?  Mexico?  Then where? No more time to think!  Don't stop now!  It's time to have it pretty, perfect, tidy, clean. Quick hide it, burn it, send it out! Ready? Now! The boys room was a mo...

Surrendering To God's Will With many mixed thoughts and emotions, I recently ended my job as a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist.  In all honesty, leaving my counseling career behind has been one of the hardest aspects for me personally as we prepare to head back into foreign missions.  It reminds me how strong the temptation is to find my identity and worth through my career.  In the world's eyes I was finally becoming somebody.  I had finally made it.  I was now a professional with letters behind my name.  I have to admit that being able to tell people I'm a licensed therapist has felt good.  I finally felt like I was someone people would respect and admire.  People were now coming to me for advice.  I was gaining a solid reputation as a well known Catholic therapist, and business was picking up.  Financial security was within reach.  Then, I heard the Lord's gentle, persistent voice asking me to just let it go and g...

Detachment We began our purging process by having a garage sale.  Leading up to the sale day we kept piling more and more stuff up in the dining room.  Up until the last hour of the sale, we kept searching through the house to bring things out.  Going through our things stirred emotions as I ran across many sentimental things, that brought back lots of memories.   I was surprised by how hard it was sorting through things and deciding what to get rid of.  This stuff was not even the "best" stuff.  What a lesson in detachment, in realizing how attached I have become to things.  I even cried when we packed up all of the baby clothes and sent them off, both as I was remembering all the memories of my kids when they were little, wondering where I will get more clothes if we have another, as well as wishing we could bring them with us to give to those in mission. I think we could all relate to Bridget's outward emotion, as she said "goodb...

I say it begins again, because we have done this before.  We spent three years as missionaries with the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity.  You can see our pictures from our past blog at beckerfamilymission.blogspot.com . That was 10 years ago, and our family has since grown.  Isaac and Gemma don't remember packing up their things the first time.  Augustine, Bridget and Aviana have lived here their whole life.  They would like to share their thoughts with you as we begin to go. "Because we are going into mission, we will have to purge all of our things except for a few belongings which we will bring in our suitcases. I am starting by filling up this empty box shown in the picture." -Isaac  "I love reading, so it is very hard for me to get rid of my books. My love language is gifts.  I love getting gifts(who doesn't), but I also really enjoy giving gifts. It made me happy when I gave some of my books to a friend." -Gemma  ...

We welcome you to join us on our journey to give "a cup of cold water" to those who are thirsty, as you follow our blog.  We have been so richly blessed that we take for granted the cold, clean water we have available to us at any and every moment.  Jesus tells us, "whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these littles ones to drink because he is a disciple-amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward."  Matt. 10:42 We are grateful to have the opportunity to put Jesus' words into action as we join Family Missions Company to go out, serve the poor and proclaim the Gospel.  We don't know that we will literally be bringing clean water to families, but we do know that we will have the great privilege to bring the goodness of our abundance and share it with the poor and to bring hope to those in need of hope. Over the next months we will be preparing to leave on this adventure, by quitting our jobs, selling our house, saying "goo...