Preparing for Rwanda: Warrior Princess style

I leave for Rwanda in 4 days and I am so excited to go.  I have never been but I could not be more ready to get there.  In preparation to lead my team over there I have been working on making sure we have everything that we need, that my team is prepared, airline tickets have been purchased, travel insurance was bought, we have our materials, make it to our meetings together, and so on.  Yet one that I have been lacking on is praying for my team and praying for this trip and the church in Rwanda we will be working with.  I have prayed about it, but not as diligently or deep as I want and need to and I will tell you why.

When preparing for an event where you are doing the work of the Lord, the enemy gets upset. He does not like us to preach the good news to others or do the work that God calls us to do no matter what it may be.  With me I have been under constant spiritual warfare.  There have been so many things to set me back and distract me from the undertakings of this trip.  It all started a few weeks ago with the pneumonia I came down with.  That illness held me back from having the energy and strength to pursue God's purpose in preparing myself and my team properly. After the pneumonia I had the flu for a couple days.  I have a job situation that has been putting stress on me and distracting me.  There is a family situation that has really been hurting me and hindering me.  And even a struggle to find the right clothes to wear over there has been an annoyance.  There are other things that have been going on but yet all of these things whether big or small have all been stumbling blocks on my road to Africa.  

The enemy has tried to make me feel insecure about my ability to lead, he has tried to distract me, stress me, scare me, make me sick, make me fail, and even make me cry.  And the worst part about it is that I have fallen into his traps.  I have allowed him to succeed in his plotting against me.  

I had a long tearful and prayerful discussion with Shawn about this last night.  And I have a choice.  I can choose to allow the enemy to win and make me stumble and break my focus or I can give it all up to God.  I can let God in and stand by my side as I battle through this war against the enemy.  

Ephesians 6:14-17 says

¹⁴Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.  NIV

I also like this take on the verse from the Message translation.

 ^{13 -18}Be prepared. You're up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it's all over but the shouting you'll still be on your feet. Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation are more than words. Learn how to apply them. You'll need them throughout your life. God's Word is an indispensable weapon. In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Keep your eyes open. Keep each other's spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out. 

This is what I have to do.  I have to put on the armor of God and go to battle.  I have to wage war against the enemy in order to stay focused on the cross and focused on my mission.  If I allow satan to win this war, my trip will not be a success.  If I focus on the wrongs this about this trip, I will fail and I will not be a strong leader.  I have to continually ask God to prepare and strengthen my heart and my mind in an effort to become more Christ like and able to battle on.

As women we grow up with a desire to be a princess.  We want to look and feel like a princess when we are little girls with our fathers being our brave prince that slays the dragon and rescues us.  And then when we are older that same thought flows over into our desire to be that same princess on our wedding day and our husband-to-be has replaced our daddy as the brave and handsome prince.  I blame Disney for our Cinderella complex, however we all have it even if we choose to deny it, it still exists in us somewhere.  The fact of the matter is that while we all want to be a princess are we going to wait on our prince to slay the dragon or are we going to be Belle and Mulan and be brave and go to battle?  Choosing to put on God's armor that he has given us, and standing by our prince, Jesus and become the brave warriors that God has equipped us to be. 

If you know me you know I have a special love for Belle, so in this spiritual war that is going on, especially in my life right now, I will "warrior up" and stand by my prince and fight on like Mulan.  My prince will eventually slay the dragon and this war will be over, but until that day comes I need to be prepared to fight for the rest of my life.  Snow White said it best, "Someday my prince will come".  Well my prince has already come.  He came, he lived, he died, he rose, and he lives and reigns forever more.  I'm sure I will still want to look and feel like a princess on my wedding day and my earthly prince will come, but I don't want him to rescue me.  I am already rescued by my Savior.  I just want him to stand by me in my war as I will stand by him in his.  

So I will lead my team to Rwanda and enjoy everyday that I get to spend there doing the work of God and bring hope and peace to the people I get to meet and spend time with not as a defeated person, but as a warrior princess.  The kind only God can create, the Holy Spirit can train, and that Jesus can fight for.