Field of Dreams

"Let's dream away." I wrote in my journal on May 30, the very day that my dad and I arrived in Burkina Faso. If there is one theme for this trip, it comes in the form of that one word: dream. 

One of the first things we did upon arrival was attend a celebratory meeting regarding the opening of a new hospital under the direction of one of the missionaries in Burkina. I listened intently as he spoke of how long and difficult the process had been, including some opposition and much waiting. It started as a dream, but God made it a reality. So from the very beginning of my trip, I knew one very important thing: God is faithful to bring dreams to fruition. 

I remember being a freshman in college and sitting at the feet of recent college graduates and new missionaries as they told their stories of how God brought them to the place where they were. I remember being joyfully envious because I myself had only a dream - to become a missionary - but absolutely no direction for how that was going to happen. I had a broad idea and a destination, but no clue of the steps on how to get there. I just hoped that God would do for me what he had done for them. So I kept dreaming. 

As I continued to dream and envision, the Lord began to shape my future by laying stepping stones. I studied nursing and missions. I did two summer-long missionary internships. I served in a missionary hospital in Africa. I went to the All Missions Fellowship on campus weekly and attended missions conferences. In all this, I kept praying and asking God for direction, and he kept giving it to me one step at a time. 

At the end of my junior year, I made a commitment to pray continually for a team. Five months into that prayer journey, I experienced the answer to that prayer when I met the Matheny family at a missions conference. They introduced to me Burkina Faso, a country I had never heard of, and invited me to explore mission work there with them. Because of their direction and influence, I spent the following summer in Burkina Faso on a survey trip. On that survey trip, I met the Richter family and their team in a small village-like town. 

And now here I stood, in the heat of the African sun as I listened to the doctor talk about the new hospital, and I began to see how God has taken my dreams and started to turn them into a reality. And it all happened in a way that only he could have orchestrated. In fact, I felt like I had very little to do with it. He made it happen. He fit the pieces together. All I did was dream and pray and follow one step at a time.

I started with a heart for missions and an open map of the whole entire world. Now I have a team, a place, a people group, and a task. At the bottom of all of it is a dream. 

"What's your dream?" Geoffrey Richter asked me as we drove to their town that afternoon. We talked about studying language, finding a place to live, raising funds, and living in Burkina Faso. "You just share with us your dream, and we will support you," Suzanne Richter told me one time when we were in the kitchen together. 

And so I kept dreaming. I dreamed of studying language and making African friends. I dreamed of living there, shopping in the market, wearing brightly colored African skirts, and riding my bike through town. I dreamed of spending time in the villages, working as a nurse in a land where there is one doctor for every 50,000 people, and where diarrhea and malnutrition kill innocent children. I dreamed of providing health education and helping to train up local nurses to give compassionate care in the name of Jesus. I even dreamed of delivering babies in a place where women often die in childbirth and leave orphans as a result. I dreamed of sharing with each mother about how much God loves her and how he has given her the gift of a child. I dreamed of worshipping with local churches, even being a part of initiating women's bible studies. I dreamed of God using me to share the gospel with just one person so that they might come to find life in Jesus in a place captive to idolatry, animism, and the fear of spirits. I dreamed of worshipping in heaven alongside the Dagara people.

I fell asleep every night smiling, praying, and dreaming...even before my eyes were closed.

One evening, we went up to the top of a small hill that overlooks the city. Here, a large piece of land has been given to the church association, and the team plans to build on the property very soon. Earlier in the week, Geoffrey showed me a yellow piece of lined notebook paper with a loose sketch of  a building plan. Atop the hill, we envisioned what it would look like with buildings - a center for children in distress, a medical clinic, a well, a new office, a church, a training and educational center. 

"A field of dreams," I whispered. 

 

The team as a whole is in this stage of dreaming. Many dreams were shared and prayed over throughout this trip. In a meeting with the another missionary family, I heard their dream for "no more orphans" in Burkina. In a team meeting with the national team of Africans that the Richers serve alongside, I heard one African woman, Rebecca, share her dream to "save the life of a child." In that same team meeting, I shared with everyone my intent to return in 2015 to live and serve full time. "We will receive you with open hearts and open arms," Rebecca said. And they prayed for me passionately. 

In that moment, I knew I had done something big. It is one thing to take a survey trip and tell the missionaries that you plan on joining them soon. It's a whole another thing to tell the Africans you are coming. That's a promise I have to keep. 

In that moment, another stepping stone was made, and I began to see dreams coming true. I realized that my joyfully envious prayer as a freshman was being answered; God was making a path for me to come to Burkina Faso. He gave an invitation, and I said yes. He let me dream, and now he is making my dreams come true. 

So what's the plan? I am sure many of you, my supporters and prayer a warriors, are asking. But I have come to learn that only God makes plans, and my role is to dream. So a better question is, "what's the dream?" And that I will answer gladly. 

I dream of moving back to Burkina Faso as soon as possible, as early as January and as late as June. I dream of living in the capital city of Ouagadougou for several months until I reach a level of proficiency in French. Then I dream of moving to the village and living with a host family for a few more months of language and culture immersion. I dream of seeing a center for infants in distress built on the field of dreams, and I dream of serving as the nurse for the children. I also dream of seeing a medical clinic established on the hilltop, where I could serve alongside fellow African nurses as we use healing to show people the way to the healer. I dream of living in Burkina for five years at least, but I know that just as God has shown me when to go, so he will also reveal to me when to leave. 

Most of all, I dream of being an ambassador for Jesus, a fragrant aroma, and a grain of salt. I dream of giving up the comforts of my home in America to live in Africa, following the example of Jesus as he gave up the comforts of heaven to live on earth among men. I dream of him using me - simple, weak little me - to be an incarnation of Christ and the gospel in a foreign place. I dream of exhausting myself with loving other people, and I want to tirelessly serve the least of these. 

I love this beautiful hymn and the timeliness of it's truths for me right now:

1. Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
   Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art;
   Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
   Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.
2. Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
   I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
   Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
   Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.
3. Be Thou my battle Shield, Sword for the fight;
   Be Thou my Dignity, Thou my Delight;
   Thou my soul’s Shelter, Thou my high Tow’r:
   Raise Thou me heav’nward, O Pow’r of my pow’r.
4. Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
   Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
   Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
   High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.
5. High King of Heaven, my victory won,
   May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heav’n’s Sun!
   Heart of my own heart, whate’er befall,
   Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.

Dream away, dear heart. God is the God of dreams, and he is faithful to bring them to fruition.

Elizabeth Elliot wrote this prayer that has become a cry of my heart as well: "Lord, I have said the eternal yes. Let me never, having put my hand to the plough, look back. Make straight the way of the cross before me. Give me love, that there may be no room for a wayward thought or step."

I will keep walking in this field of dreams, trusting God to lead me with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, just like he led the Israelites through the desert. Like their leader, Moses, I pray, "Lord, if your presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here." (Exodus 33:15) Father, when you move, I will move, and when you stay I will stay. Do not send me anywhere without your presence. 

And in the quietness of the African savannah, in the heat of the sun and in the shade of the occasional tree, in the red dirt, in the faces of weathered women and in the bright eyes of children, I hear the Lord's response. It is the same thing he said to Moses. "My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest."