Sunday, November 27, 2011

Challenges…or…?



The dictionary defines a {challenge} as
"a task or situation that tests someone's ability".

I think that definition totally applies to what our family has been facing over the last year.

When we first began this blog, almost a year ago, we did so in response to our feeling that God was calling us to serve Him in Uganda. Since then

we have felt under attack many times.

house flooding
major roof damage
car accidents saw accidents
injuries illness
seizures surgeries
even death… many deaths

We have seen all of this and more in the last 11 months.


Through each of these {challenges} we have tried to see them as God sees them, we've tried to focus on how He can be glorified through these things, we've tried to seek Him first. But sometimes it is so very hard to do. We have to remind ourselves to look to God FIRST, we have to look to His WORD to find wisdom, and we have to spend time with HIM to know His will and direction. The more {challenges} we face, the more we have turned to Him but I have to
admit that sometimes it's not until the hardship has passed. This is when we have one of those "slap yourself in the forehead" kind of moments when we can't believe we tried to do it on our own.
Again.

The dictionary defines a {challenge} as
"a task or situation that tests someone's ability".

These {challenges} have definitely tested our ability. They've tested our ability to look to God for answers instead of ourselves or our peers or our experts. Our ability to let go and give God control of ourselves, of our finances, or our children, our ability to trust Him with everything. Our ability to really truly believe in God's awesome authority.

And we know. We know these {challenges} have been allowed to come upon us so that we can grow, so that we can be sharpened in the fire, so that we can show empathy to those that are going through similar {challenges}. We know that they have a reason and we know He can use them for GOOD because we believe in Him and we are called to His purpose.

As we prepare to leave for Uganda in less than 7 weeks, we do so knowing there will be even more challenges. Only we are now trying to think of them as {opportunities}…to grow, to care for others ,to see God's GLORY.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Our Son

I wanted send out a quick update on how everything is going for the Wilbanks family...

Up until two weeks ago everything had been going pretty smoothly for the whole family, I had finally gotten the house put back together from all the flooding that occurred last March, the kids and Alicia had each started back to school and we all had begun to get back into a normal schedule, if there is such a thing. Alicia and I had begun our fundraising for our January trip to Uganda, and with a little less than 5 months to go before we left, our excitement had started to build. But as excited as we were/are for our upcoming trip to the ranch we were even more excited for a special anniversary that was coming up on Friday, September 23rd.

The 23rd of September would have been a year since Wyatt had experienced a seizure. (For those of you who didn't know, Wyatt was diagnosed with Epilepsy just before his 6th birthday and has been on medication for over two years to control them.) We already had his yearly check up with his neurologist scheduled for the following Wednesday where he had planned to started weaning Wyatt off his seizures medications. For us this would have been a HUGE answered prayer!! Wyatt and his medical condition have been our biggest concern since starting this Ugandan journey. With his year anniversary of being seizure free coming up Alicia and I had let ourselves start to believe that this period in his life was coming to an end and maybe even that God was going to grant us this request for being so willing to follow him into the mission field. The phone call that Alicia received on Tuesday, September 20th at 11:15, just three days before Wyatt's big anniversary, would put all those hopes/illusions to a screaming halt.

The call was from the school nurse to inform us that Wyatt was in the middle of a seizure in his classroom and in fact had been having one for about 15 minutes and was not coming out of it. There's a joke about how slow city vehicles seem to just drive around our city, and that the drivers of those vehicles are never in a hurry to go anywhere and how bad it is to get stuck behind one. But when I got the call that no father every wants to get from a wife with the kind of panic that can only mean one thing in her voice, I got in my city truck and turned a 20 min drive into a 5 min drive. I got to the school first and found Wyatt on the floor of his class room, with the school nurse and his teacher on their knees around him, still in a seizure. The shaking, drooling, eyes rolling back in his head had all stopped by the time I walked in the room. The look on the nurse's and teacher's faces was enough to let me know it had been a bad one. They were truly rattled. I picked Wyatt's limp body up off the floor and as I did he looked up at me to acknowledge my presence in the room but his brain wouldn't allow him to put any words together. I sat down in a chair and began to rock him until Alicia got there. I kept praying that he would be the same kid after the event that he was before it. The types of seizures Wyatt has are the types that you can have and that you may never come out of or when you do, you might not be the same when its over. So with every seizure Alicia and I hold our breath and pray that God will bring our little buddy back to us. Over the next week Wyatt would have three other much smaller seizures even after his Dr. had upped his meds. We now have scheduled him for a 24 hour EEG to hopefully find out why after 11 months of no seizures he has had so many, when he didn't even have this many so close together before going on medication.

As of right now his medications seem to have done the trick and I'm happy to say Wyatt has been 1 weeks seizure free (and like parents of newborns, we start counting the days and weeks again). Now 1 week past all the events I find myself thanking God for allowing all this to happen when it did and not when Alicia and I were 3 thousand miles away. I can't imagine how hard that call would have been to get if we would have received it in Uganda and not 20 min. away. It has also made both of so thankful for the gift of having children and for the time God gives us with each of them. It reminds us of how precious that time is. God never promises us a tomorrow only that he will always be with us.

We want to thank you all for your love and support.

Prayer Request:

1. That God would be magnified through the life we live
2. That ACM feeding program would be brought back to the levels before the cuts. And that it would even be expanded.
3. That God would bring the right people along beside ACM to aid in the work they are doing in Uganda.
4. That our family will remain commeted to finding Gods will for our lives.
5. For the saftey and health of our family while were away.
6. That God will make his will known to Alicia and I while on this trip.
7. That the funds we still have left to raise for our trip will come in and come in quickly so we can purchase our airfaire at a cheaper rate.
God bless you all
The Wilbanks family

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Answered Prayers

Hello everyone,


Sorry it has taken me so long to get an update out, two days after I arrived home from my last trip all the plumbing in my house decided to die. It started with my down stairs den flooding for the fourth time, after installing a extra sump pump in a crawl space too small to stand up in and tearing out the carpet in our den for the fourth time, the den flooded yet again.. After having my septic tank pumped out I find out that all my fill lines are no good, so now I have back yard that looks like a big dug out mud pit. I've replaced all the plumbing pipes on the out side of my house going to the tank and all the pipes in the tank (not a fun experience I might add). All I have left to do is dig up my old fill lines replace them plant some grass and remodel a den. All I need now is the time to do it. As someone who has to have everything just a certain way almost to the point of OCD, I feel like God is taking this opportunity to teach me to be content in the midst of chaos. And that some days I will work all day at something and feel as if I accomplished nothing. I think he's telling me not to focus on the days and days of work I still have left to do and to only focus on this day and the work God would have me do today. Also just to be thankfull that I have house to work on and the abilty to do so. It is taking time to ajust but I'm starting to get ok with the Idea that my house and yard are going to have to be in shambels for now and that I can't always take care of a problem or problems as soon as they come up. It's funny but ever since Alicia and
I have started this journey we have tried to look at every situation that arises as a teaching tool that God is using to prepare us for a life in the mission field. It has made it easer to handle problems when we don't focus on the problem and keep our focus on what God is trying to show us. We still have moments of being totally overwhelmed especially for me over the last couple of weeks with everything going on with the house, but I have found in those moments when I feel like I can't catch my breath and am on the verge of a massive panic attack,
that God never fails to throw me a life line. For the last few weeks that life line has been my dad. He always seems to show up at just the right time to lend a helping hand to hold me up and encourage me so I can make it through whatever disaster I'm dealing with at the time. Both of my parents are such a blessing and I'm so thankful for them.


This last trip to the ranch was great, just to see all my African friends so soon after my last trip was awesome. Dad and I were able to get most of the work done that brought us back so soon. We even got to see one of the generators run off bio-gas. How cool is that!!! I wish I could say that God revealed his big plan and the work he would have my family and I to do while I was their but thats not the case. I left broken hearted the same as before wishing I didn't have to leave and wishing my family was already there with me. I guess the biggest thing
God has been teaching me through this whole process is patience. So for now we will continue to move forward with our plans of getting Alicia on the first team trip after she graduates, unless God opens the door for her to go sooner, then following that a 3 month stay with the whole family. Dad and I will began planning and organizing the next team trip which right now looks like will be Sept. 24th thru Oct. 8th. If anyone is interested in going just shoot me an E-mail.

Please continue to pray for our family. For wisdom for Alicia and I. For us to be patient and to wait on Gods timing. For our hearts to continue to be broken for the people he would have us to serve.

Before I go I want to share an answered prayer request that I just found out about last night. After I got home from my last trip Alicia made the comment about how she could not wait until she graduated so she could go with us on her first trip to Africa. And how she wished she could go sooner, but knew that would be impossible if she was going to graduate by next spring. I told her we should pray about it and ask God if it was his will for her to go sooner that he would provide away for that to happen. We prayed that night and the next morning I told her I wanted to share the prayer request with all of you, she asked me not to because it was a silly idea and that it
wasn't going to happen and that she didn't want to get her hopes up just for both of us to be disappointed. That morning I began to pray that God would show her that through him nothing was impossible. She found out Wednesday morning at school that she has got to do a 4 week interim term this January in order for her to graduate and that she can do that interim in Africa with ACM. All she has to do is write up an interim contract and get it approved. She e-mailed the lady in charge of the interim terms last night a rough draft interim contract
to see what she would say. It was about five minutes later that she responded and said "yes definitely yes". Though nothing is in stone yet it looks like Alicia and I will be able to make the trip to the ranch this coming January, needless to say we are both extremely excited to be able to go 8 months sooner than we anticipated an even more excited that God answered our prayer in such a big way.


Thank you all for your continued prayers and support. You have no idea how much it means to us.

Wes

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Patience

This might come as a surprise to some of you…but I am not a very patient person!
I know, shocking right? :)

One day when Wes and I were dating, we were watching The Newlywed Game Show. One of the questions was "what is your spouse most lacking…brain cells, patience cells, or love cells".
Wes without hesitation shouted "patience cells!!".

I've come a long way since those days, twin girls will do that to a mother!
But I still have such a long way to go. I so often want things accomplished on my time, when I want them and how I want them.
I really have to focus on making myself stop and think about how this affects other people.

So with this {journey} I've felt God so often tell me

"stop. just wait. be patient."

And that is so hard…so very very hard. Because when I have something in my sites I go for it.

I'm all about research and planning and list making and weighing options…but once I've done that and have decided I'm gunning to accomplish it.

For whatever reason though, with Uganda, God is telling me to wait.

I want more than anything to spend my days pouring love into the children of Uganda…
the people of Uganda.
I want more than anything to spend my days pouring love and knowledge into my children.
I want more than anything to spend my days depending solely on my heavenly father.
I really want more than anything to rewind time by five, ten years and move to Uganda then.

Why did it take us so long to hear what our Father was telling us?
Why didn't we see what He wanted so long ago?

I don't know the answers to these questions but I know that we are never to old or too set in our ways to be used by God.
His timing is perfect
I know He has a plan for us
I can't wait to see what that is.

But for now I have to have {patience}...

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Words...


Hello everyone, I know it's early in the month, but I wanted to go ahead and send out an update on how everything is going. Since I will be leaving for Uganda on the 24th I don't know if I will have another chance to update you. It is my hope to send an update out every month, if at all possible and if I have anything to update you all on.

Thank you for all your prayers, man have they been felt! Thanks to all of you who have responded to these emails, your words of encouragement have been such a blessing and have often times been a way God has answered a prayer.

There have only been a few times in my life where someone has said something to me, directly or even in passing, and God has used what that person said to cut straight to my heart. I would like to share two of those times with you.

I guess any of you that have heard me give my testimony, or a heavily edited version of it I should say (a topic for another email), know that all through high school, college and my early married life I had a bad drinking problem. The result of which was a series of bad events that accured during this period, no doubt God disciplining a rebellious child. But God placed someone in my life, someone I looked up to and respected, and gave that person the right words to say and put me in their presence at the right time (when I was at my lowest).

That person asked me if I had taken my family to church the previous Sunday. I said no, but before I could give my usual laundry list of excuses, all of which were lies, he looked me dead in my eyes and said, "you know your going to be held accountable for the way you lead your family, you know Gods going to hold you responsible". I quietly said, "I know, I know" but as I sat there and those words sunk in all I could think about was how my girls had already turned one and had only been in a church a handful of times. How my wife and I had not had a real conversation for over a year. The truth was that while I was living an ungodly life I was in fact saved. Just what was I going to say to God on the day that I had to stand before him and give an account of my life? How would I, after knowing Christ, explain that I never gave my children or my wife a Christ-like example for them to follow? What if because of my failure as a father, husband and spiritual leader one or more of them spends eternity separated from Christ?

Everything had to change.

I've never thanked my father for the words he said that day. I hope he knows the impact that his warning has had on my life and the life of my family. Because on that day a relationship between a husband and wife, a father and his daughters and a son and Savior began to heal. Thank you Dad for saying exactly what I needed to hear at exactly the right time.

It was 8 months later that I joined my father on my first trip to Uganda to work with ACM. It was also the first time I felt that foreign missions might be something God could lead me to do in the future. A feeling/calling that has only grown stronger with each trip since. How perfect is Gods timing?!?

The second time I want to tell you about was on October 24th 2010. It was the morning our team was to leave the ranch in Uganda. Me and someone (I'm not sure who) drove ACMs truck over to Wayne's house to drop it off along with some stuff the team was leaving behind. As we stood in the house two college age girls (Joy and Sarabeth), who were on a three month mission trip of their own with ACM, came into the house. As we talked one of them said in passing how much we must be missing home, to which I said. "it's not home that I miss but my family," and "if I could have my family there with me I would be home", to which she replied "why don't you bring them then?" The first thought that went through my mind was "easy for you to say! You're young, or younger, single and don't have a spouse and kids to consider!". So I dismissed her comment, said good bye and headed back to the other side of the ranch for breakfast.

As the team ate, the AHI and ACM staff came to say goodbye. As they did so the tears began to fall, from staff members and team members. You may not know this about me, but I don't do emotions very well, especially ones that involve my eyes leaking. But as staff member after staff member came and gave me a hug, most of which were crying, I felt my heart shatter. But I was strong, I swallowed my feelings...bottled them right up. I consoled those that needed consoling and assured them all that we would be back next year. All the while fighting back tears and thinking,"why are you leaving?", "why isn't your family here with you?", "who told you 'later in life'?", "you haven't even prayed about it and asked God 'when', you've only asked him 'if' ", "do you really want to follow Gods will? and if so why aren't you letting him decide when to go?". I bet that Joy or SaraBeth never thought twice about the comment they said to me that morning, but for me it changed everything.

At the same time, back in Birmingham, Alicia was at school telling her fellow classmates how excited she was that Wes was coming home soon. One of her friends, Marie, was asking her about what I do in Uganda. After telling her about the work with ACM, Alicia told her "He loves it so much! He goes pretty much every other year. If he had his way we would live there now!" For the first time instead of someone saying "oh that would be CRAZY!" or "Oh gosh, I could never do that!" Marie asked, "so why don't you?". Alicia stammered around for a while and mumbled something about the kids, but couldn't stop thinking about that question...why don't we? What scares us that God can't handle?

I find it funny that we rarely ever get to see how our comments impact each others lives both for good and bad, I bet if we did we would talk a lot differently to each other.

Oh yea, all those tears that I fought so hard to hold back? They blew up the next morning at the breakfast table in front of my family. I went to bless the the food and instead of saying grace all the family got was a bunch of incoherent sentences and uncontrollable sobbing. Three months later and I'm still crying, Alicia to .

As God breaks our hearts for the people he would have us serve the tears continue fall, and for the first time in my life I'm able to feel others pain, to put my self in their shoes, it's been great. Our family has had more spiritual growth in the past three months than in the past 13 years. Its funny how fast God can do a good work in you if you only slow down long enough for him to do so.

There's a song by Sanctus Real called Legacy and in that song there's a verse that says "all these inventions steal my attention from real life". That is so true! We have found that if would just turn off the T.V., pick up the bible a little more, join a reading group, ask others to pray for us and just focus our attention on the father instead of all that he has blessed us with, His voice suddenly becomes crystal clear.

As Alicia and I sat in church Sunday morning listening to Buddy preach I kept thinking "Man! I know I've heard Buddy preach this same sermon before!" and as I listened I realized were I had heard it from. I heard pretty much the same sermon the night before on a Charles Stanley podcast. And thats not the first time something like that has happened. In fact it's happening all the time. Alicia and I looked at each other as if the same thought had just passed through each of our heads at the same time. I leaned over and said "you know that there's no question about the call", she smiled and said "I know". The call has been confirmed, we are almost certain of the country and the organizations. We are both praying for more clarity on those. Hopefully I'll get those answers in a few weeks.

Thank yo so very much for your prayers

Love the Wilbanks family.

Monday, January 31, 2011

Hello everyone, I know it's early in the month, but I wanted to go ahead and send out an update on how everything is going. Since I will be leaving for Uganda on the 24th I didn't know if I would have another chance to update you. It is my hope to send an update out every month, if at all possible and if I have anything to update you all on. Thank you for all your prayers, man have they been felt! Thanks to all of you who have responded to these emails, your words of encouragement have been such a blessing and have often times been a way God has answered a prayer.

There have only been a few times in my life where someone has said something to me, directly or even in passing, and God has used what that person said to cut straight to my heart. I would like to share two of those times with you.

I guess any of you that have heard me give my testimony, or a heavily edited version of it I should say (a topic for another email), know that all through high school, college and my early married life I had a bad drinking problem. The result of which was a series of bad events that accured during this period, no doubt God disciplining a rebellious child. But God placed someone in my life, someone I looked up to and respected, and gave that person the right words to say and put me in their presence at the right time (when I was at my lowest).

That person asked me if I had taken my family to church the previous Sunday. I said no, but before I could give my usual laundry list of excuses, all of which were lies, he looked me dead in my eyes and said, "you know your going to be held accountable for the way you lead your family, you know Gods going to hold you responsible". I quietly said, "I know, I know" but as I sat there and those words sunk in all I could think about was how my girls had already turned one and had only been in a church a handful of times. How my wife and I had not had a real conversation for over a year. The truth was that while I was living an ungodly life I was in fact saved. Just what was I going to say to God on the day that I had to stand before him and give an account of my life? How would I, after knowing Christ, explain that I never gave my children or my wife a Christ-like example for them to follow? What if because of my failure as a father, husband and spiritual leader one or more of them spends eternity separated from Christ?

Everything had to change.

I've never thanked my father for the words he said that day. I hope he knows the impact that his warning has had on my life and the life of my family. Because on that day a relationship between a husband and wife, a father and his daughters and a son and Savior began to heal. Thank you Dad for saying exactly what I needed to hear at exactly the right time.

It was 8 months later that I joined my father on my first trip to Uganda to work with ACM. It was also the first time I felt that foreign missions might be something God could lead me to do in the future. A feeling/calling that has only grown stronger with each trip since. How perfect is Gods timing?!?

The second time I want to tell you about was on October 24th 2010. It was the morning our team was to leave the ranch in Uganda. Me and someone (I'm not sure who) drove ACMs truck over to Wayne's house to drop it off along with some stuff the team was leaving behind. As we stood in the house two college age girls (Joy and Sarabeth), who were on a three month mission trip of their own with ACM, came into the house. As we talked one of them said in passing how much we must be missing home, to which I said. "it's not home that I miss but my family," and "if I could have my family there with me I would be home", to which she replied "why don't you bring them then?" The first thought that went through my mind was "easy for you to say! You're young, or younger, single and don't have a spouse and kids to consider!". So I dismissed her comment, said good bye and headed back to the other side of the ranch for breakfast.

As the team ate, the AHI and ACM staff came to say goodbye. As they did so the tears began to fall, from staff members and team members. You may not know this about me, but I don't do emotions very well, especially ones that involve my eyes leaking. But as staff member after staff member came and gave me a hug, most of which were crying, I felt my heart shatter. But I was strong, I swallowed my feelings...bottled them right up. I consoled those that needed consoling and assured them all that we would be back next year. All the while fighting back tears and thinking,"why are you leaving?", "why isn't your family here with you?", "who told you 'later in life'?", "you haven't even prayed about it and asked God 'when', you've only asked him 'if' ", "do you really want to follow Gods will? and if so why aren't you letting him decide when to go?". I bet that Joy or SaraBeth never thought twice about the comment they said to me that morning, but for me it changed everything.

At the same time, back in Birmingham, Alicia was at school telling her fellow classmates how excited she was that Wes was coming home soon. One of her friends, Marie, was asking her about what I do in Uganda. After telling her about the work with ACM, Alicia told her "He loves it so much! He goes pretty much every other year. If he had his way we would live there now!" For the first time instead of someone saying "oh that would be CRAZY!" or "Oh gosh, I could never do that!" Marie asked, "so why don't you?". Alicia stammered around for a while and mumbled something about the kids, but couldn't stop thinking about that question...why don't we? What scares us that God can't handle?

I find it funny that we rarely ever get to see how our comments impact each others lives both for good and bad, I bet if we did we would talk a lot differently to each other.

Oh yea, all those tears that I fought so hard to hold back? They blew up the next morning at the breakfast table in front of my family. I went to bless the the food and instead of saying grace all the family got was a bunch of incoherent sentences and uncontrollable sobbing. Three months later and I'm still crying, Alicia to .

As God breaks our hearts for the people he would have us serve the tears continue fall, and for the first time in my life I'm able to feel others pain, to put my self in their shoes, it's been great. Our family has had more spiritual growth in the past three months than in the past 13 years. Its funny how fast God can do a good work in you if you only slow down long enough for him to do so.

There's a song by Sanctus Real called Legacy and in that song there's a verse that says "all these inventions steal my attention from real life". That is so true! We have found that if would just turn off the T.V., pick up the bible a little more, join a reading group, ask others to pray for us and just focus our attention on the father instead of all that he has blessed us with, His voice suddenly becomes crystal clear.

As Alicia and I sat in church Sunday morning listening to Buddy preach I kept thinking "Man! I know I've heard Buddy preach this same sermon before!" and as I listened I realized were I had heard it from. I heard pretty much the same sermon the night before on a Charles Stanley podcast. And thats not the first time something like that has happened. In fact it's happening all the time. Alicia and I looked at each other as if the same thought had just passed through each of our heads at the same time. I leaned over and said "you know that there's no question about the call", she smiled and said "I know". The call has been confirmed, we are almost certain of the country and the organizations. We are both praying for more clarity on those. Hopefully I'll get those answers in a few weeks.

Thank yo so very much for your prayers

Love the Wilbanks family.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Love

I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while! Just always assume we are crazy busy, you'll be right 99% of the time!! :)

Can I tell you how awesome our God is?!? It's amazing how much He speaks to us when we are actually seeking Him. From the shouts to the quiet whispers, His presence is everywhere all the time, if you stop to look.

That has been one of the greatest blessings of this JOURNEY we are on. We already feel so much closer to our Father, so much closer to each other, and so much more focused on His plan.

A few days ago, I randomly stumbled upon this blog posted on a friends facebook page. I clicked the link and was floored by what I was reading! This amazing girl (I think she is 22 now) started an educational and feeding program for poor and orphaned children in UGANDA (oh yeah, and has adopted 14 girls!)! The things she writes sound verbatim like what Wes has told me for years about how he feels about Africa. This blog and Katie's story have been such a blessing to us and have calmed so many fears that I have about Africa, answered so many questions...it is totally a God thing!

Wes and I have spent every night since I found it, reading aloud and crying our eyes out for these children and their families. Every day we would discuss and issue or a concern about God's plan, and every day God would answer those concerns or issues through a friend, a sermon, our bible reading, or Katie's blog. Even the blog title is "The Journey"! All of the world needs our Savior, but Africa needs Him so blatantly, so obviously. We continue to pray that we can, one day soon, LOVE on these sweet children and teach them the truth (in lugandan AMAZIMA) about God. There are so many of her posts I would recommend you read, but I'll link the first one I read and let you do some exploring on your own! I promise you will be blown away by the work God is doing in Uganda! You can read this post here. Have kleenex at the ready. :)

Katie's posts and her story have a continual theme, loving God's children, all of them. On the last HSBC mission team video we did, I put I John 3:18 at the end, "Dear children, let us not love each other with words or speech, but with actions and in truth." This is truly what Katie does in Uganda and what we hope to one day do there also. But we don't have to wait. There are a BILLION ways we can love God's children where we are. We just need to be reminded sometimes to stop and do it.

Since the day Wes came to me and said, "I think God may want us in Uganda" (which if you know Wes at all was really NOT a surprise!), I've felt like this mission has been Wes'. My purpose would be to love and support him as much as possible, take care of the children and make sure they adjust well, do whatever is needed but mostly in the background. All very noble things, all extremely important things. I feel like our children could also do some amazing service over there and could really change lives…but after reading Katie's blog I've begun to feel like there might be a different mission for me in Uganda. The Lord knows I can loooove me some children! Please pray for us to be open to God's plan for me, Katie Mae, Ashley, Wyatt and Wes, we know He has amazing plans because He tells us so! {Jeremiah 29:11}

Wes and Randy leave for Uganda on Feb. 24th. Please pray for their preparations and all that they need to coordinate before they leave.

I start back to school Feb. 1st. I've very…melancholy?…about starting back. Last time I ended up with a broken foot and in a boot for 8 weeks!! Of course God's timing was perfect with that as well, I just have to be reminded over and over sometimes! I just feel so much is riding on my successful completion of school…please pray for peace about this and that I would remember that I've given it to God. His timing is perfect.

Last week I was able to share our plans with my parents for this first time. I was very nervous about this because I know how much they miss my big sister in San Francisco and aren't super excited about the possibility of my little sister moving away either. This went so well though! They were a little apprehensive but still totally supportive. I know that this is all to God's glory!

Thank you as always for your prayers. We love you all very much!!




Thursday, January 20, 2011

Update & Prayers

I'm posting an email Wes sent out yesterday. God is so faithful and is revealing so much to us each and every day! Thank you all for your responses, they mean more to us than you know!

Hey guys!

I hope everyone is doing well. We wanted to give everyone an update on how things are going with the Wilbanks Fam and our pursuit to find God's will for our lives.

First let me thank you all for your prayers and support. It has been such a blessing to us and has made such an impact on our lives already.

When Alicia and I first began to think all this through we were overwhelmed with a flood of logistical questions about what all would be involved in such a transition, not to mention a whole host of worries. Our biggest worry was for the safety of our family, primarily our children, as well as financial support. If you have ever been on a trip with dad and I than you know the first thing we tell you is not to let money be a deciding factor in whether or not to go on the trip, and that if you are willing to go, God will provide the necessary funds. Then here I find myself worrying about how we will support ourselves in the mission field, what a hypocrite I can be!

As Alicia and I have begun to pray about all of our concerns, God has begun to move mental mountains. At some point I hope to be able to share with you all about how God has begun to address our questions and concerns. For right now I will say this, if Alicia and I talk about some concern that we are having or if we can't see how something is going to work, we have learned to expect that the next days bible study or the next sermon we hear will be all about that discussion. This has happened so frequently that we have come to a better understanding of the fact that we are only responsible for faithfully obeying the will of God and for none of the consequences of doing so, what a comforting thought!

God has also begun to bring things to the surface for both of us that need to be worked on. While this process has not been a very pleasant one, we both understand that it's a very necessary one, and will only go to strengthen our relationship with him as well as make us a more effective tool that can be used in the mission field.

Our plan for right now, unless God points us in a different direction, is for Alicia to graduate from Birmingham Southern in the spring of 2012 and then for her to be part of the next team dad and I lead to Uganda. After that we will began planning a 3 month stay with the whole family to live on the ranch in Uganda as if we were full time in the field. Wayne and Mary have told us that 3 months is a good length of time to feel less of a "guest" and get a better idea of what it would be like to live there full-time. Hopefully at the end of that time we will know for sure whether this is where God wants us or not.

Some prayer requests...

1. pray for us to discover Gods will.
2. pray that God will continue to affirm his call
3. pray for humility for all of us
4. pray that as we get closer to God's will that we won't be distracted by the schemes of the enemy
5. pray that we will start living as full time missionaries now
6. pray for the support of family.
7. pray for God's divine timing for all of this to happen
8. pray for ACM and AHI that God would continue to protect and bless the work of all involved.

Once again thank you all so much for your prayers, and know that we are praying for each of you.

Love,
The Wilbanks Fam

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Worries, What Worries?

Today's daily devotional had to do with casting our cares into Jesus' capable hands. It includes an exercise of writing down the things we are worried about, praying about them as we give them over to God, and then destroying them, leaving them at the foot of the cross.

I don't consider myself to be a very worrisome person. Maybe I should say "didn't".

As I started to write down the things that I have worried about just today, I was shocked at the stack of little post-it notes that I amounted. Then I prayed that God would open my eyes to any worries I had forgotten that I try to handle myself, worry about constantly, or fret over. The stack got bigger.

Several of these worries had to do with Africa. How will people react if/when we go public? How will we survive financially? What if the reality of Africa is more than I can handle?

As I prayed over these worries individually, several bible verses came to mind.

How he cares for me much more than the birds but even they never have to worry about their lives. {Matthew 6:26} How God will give us the words to say when we need them. {Matthew 10:19} How He WANTS me to cast my cares upon Him because He loves me. {1Peter 5:7} How nothing can ever separate us from our God who loves us. {Romans 8:38} How He knows His plans for us. {Jeremiah 29:11}

How amazing is the gift of God's grace! What a joyfully awesome feeling, to know that He's got me. He has all of my worries, all of my stressors and He can handle them. What a peace I'm left with.

The picture above is what is left of my worries. If you want to know what they say you'll have to talk to Jesus, I left them all with Him.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Obedience

Ughh! My children have been FRUSTRATING me lately!!

It seems like I barely get instructions out of my mouth before they are asking me "what did you want me to do?" "Where did you want me to go?"

I want to scream at them, "If you would just LISTEN to the words that are coming out of my mouth!!" {Chris Rock style}

Today was going that way as usual.

"Girls, please go in the kitchen and unlock the back door"

"Go where?" "our kitchen?" "Do what?" "lock the back door?"

Why can't they just say "yes mam" and do it?!?

I thought I was going to lose it…but then I thought about how often I do that to God.

"Go where God?!?" "Do what?"

I spend so much time asking God to use me, show me his will, tell me what to do, when he has already done that. I know my main purpose is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever, I know that He wants me to go and make disciples. So why do I keep asking him

"Go where?" "Do what?"

It's time for me to stop asking God "Why?" and "What's in it for me?" and start saying "yes sir, I'm on my way".

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Standing Together

The idea of standing together was made real to me today.

In the midst of catchy phrases like "united we stand, divided we fall" or "one for all and all for one!" the true spirit of standing together with someone in the midst of their struggles is sometimes lost. Instead of a cheesy {but y'all know I LOOOVE cheesy!} overly dramatic idea, the reality is something holy.

"for where two or three are gathered in my name, there I AM with them" NIV MATTHEW 18:20

For the last couple of days I've been going through some major struggles emotionally & physically and on very short notice, today was declared to be the day for them to culminate.

I don't do well with confrontation and am a total people pleaser…though I'm trying really hard to change that into being at God pleaser! :) When people say they are sick with worry, or anxiety, I have a newfound understanding. I was absolutely so anxious about this meeting today that I was angry, upset, and seconds from loosing my lunch in my van!

It might sound silly, but in the midst of this absolutely out of control moment, my current favorite song came on the radio. {HERE IN THIS MOMENT BY BECKAH SHAE, Love it! You can hear it by clicking the link to the right of this post.}

Here in this moment. With. You. Amazing!

I had no idea at the time that Wes had asked you all to pray for me. But I truly felt your prayers.

The meeting went better than I could have ever imagined. I entered it surrounded in peace and left in peace.

You were standing with me. And as we were standing together, Christ was standing with us also.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for standing with me today. Thank you for standing with my family as we travel this journey.

Much love.
The Wilbanks Fam

Friday, January 7, 2011

Struggles

Have you ever had one of those days where you feel like all of your best efforts are useless? Like no matter how hard you try to do the right thing, you end up doing the wrong thing, say the wrong thing, feel the wrong thing, think the wrong thing?

I've been having alot of those days lately.

It reminds me of Romans 7:19 where Paul talks about not doing the good he wants to do and doing the evil he doesn't want to do. I can relate! I'm sure we've all had times were we feel that way because of our naturally sinful nature.

It is so easy to fall off of the road of following Christ's plan for our lives when we have these days. Our excuses might be "it's too hard" or "it's useless, why try?"

It gives me so much hope during these times to remember that I can't accomplish this "doing the right thing" on my own. It is only through God's direction and power that I will be able to do the things I want to do and not do the things I don't want to do.

I needed that reminder today.

"Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!"

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Blooming Where You Are Planted

Our current bible devotionals have really been speaking to the importance of service. Ephesians 2:8-10 tells us that we were created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared for us beforehand.

A real way God seems to be speaking to us right now is through service where we are.

So many of our prayer team members have spoken to us about being open to wherever God wants us to serve, even if it is right here in Hoover, Alabama.

In addition, active service here at home has the potential to expose challenges, issues and blessings that we may not have even considered in our preparations for a life of overseas service.

You all know we've asked you to be in prayer for our children as we consider this route for our family. Especially Katie Mae, our big hearted yet resistant one. One of our prayer team members suggested talking to KM about the children in Uganda and how we want to go to serve them and help them to know they are loved. So Wednesday night, on the way home from church, I broached the subject again. I told KM how much she would love the children there, that they have so little and yet are so beautiful and so full of joy. After some discussion, she asked if she could do something to help them even before she gets to actually meet them…

She and Ashley decided they would like to start a clothes drive, asking their friends to donate their clothing for these precious Ugandan children. They want to run the whole thing themselves, from collecting clothing to contacting teams who are heading over and asking them to take the donations with them. Ashley even asked if they would be able to tell the kids to let their parents know the donations would be tax deductible!! :) They decided to make an announcement at First Priority at school this week and start working on a slideshow so that their friends can see the kids they are helping. Talk about service! Talk about some proud parents! Please pray that God will use this opportunity to continue to soften Katie Mae's heart towards going to Africa, or wherever God might send us.

Our Sunday School class has tried to get people together many many times before to serve at Jimmie Hale Mission…this time you can bet Wes will be going!

We are continuing to pray that God would show us other areas to serve where we are.

It is such a crazy thing to see how much God is talking to you when you actually stop to listen. Have these giant billboards been there all the time pointing our way but we are just usually too busy to see them? We are definitely savoring this journey and this walking with our Savior.

Thank you for praying,

The Wilbanks Fam

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Compassion: Okujjanjaba

I can't find a word
in lu
ga
nda (a language spoken by most Ugandans, along with Swahili and English) for "compassion". "Okujjanjaba" meaning "to care for another" is the closest synonym I could think of. This
quote was read to me today by one of my professors at Birmingham-Southern. It REALLY hit home, especially the last paragraph. Please pray that during this journey, we will truly embrace the principle of compassion and extend it to those we encounter both at home and those that we are
striving to serve in Uganda.

Thank you!

The Wilbanks Fam

It has been said, “He who lives for himself alone lives for the meanest moral known.” Compassion extends us. It extends our scope of positive influences beyond our immediate situation. Any success is hollow without it.

The literal definition of compassion is “to feel with.” It means living with the knowledge that your life is as important as mine, your dreams as valid, your children as precious, your pain as real. Compassion gives us a more valid view of the world by taking us out of its center. Every person you see has stories, and every person you see has a few that would break your heart. We deserve each other’s respect simply because we’ve survived all we have and kept going anyway.

Compassion fuels kindness, gentleness, and patience. It helps you realize that everybody else is doing the best they can, just as you are. That makes it easier to give other imperfect people the benefit of the doubt. Compassion is also an invaluable aid in accepting others as they are and allowing them to be different from us.

Follow your compassion where it takes you, even though some people are bound to disapprove. Perhaps your cause isn’t theirs, or the suffering that pierces your soul doesn’t seem real to them, or they’re simply so involved with their own concerns that little else matters.
Save some compassion for them, too.

~Victoria Moran