Treasures in Our Own Backyard

We didn't even know when we put in the Edisto where we REALLY were. Something seemed too fantastic, though. Osprey, ibis, egret, Great Blue heron all at the same time and plenty of them!!! "Jack, take some pictures, no one is going to believe it! Take some pictures!!!" Well, we never could get any decent photos with them flying - BUT we will be back and I'll post them. So instead the slideshow highlights the beautiful marsh flowers. I'm sure we should be able to get some photos of the birds because when I came home I discovered something. Knowing what a rare thing it is to see so many birds like that in the same area and in such abundance, we went to the Internet to find out what was going on. The Ernest F. Hollings ACE Basin National Wildlife Refuge was going on! As we researched/read about the area, Jack and I learned that had we turned right we would have ended up at the put in for the Refuge which is - let me quote from the website, www.fws.gov/acebasin,
"The ACE (Ashepoo, Combahee, and
Edisto rivers) Basin is a 350,000 acre
area made up of many different
habitat types such as brackish water
tidal marshes, fresh water
wetlands, bottomland hardwoods,
pine and hardwood uplands, barrier
islands and beaches. It is one of the
largest undeveloped estuaries on the
East Coast of the United States.
It is extremely important to
migrating ducks, other migrating
birds, and endangered species such
as wood storks and shortnose
sturgeon."
So there we were discovering the "Treasures in Our Own Backyard." We'd traveled to canoe the swamps in Florida to see such things and were not given such a beautiful and abundant display of ornithological splendor. So what does this have to do with Summer Blessings ministry - read on my friend!

~Just recently I shared some of my testimony with the ladies from Salvation Army Golden Girls. They are the BEST!!! I luv em, I luv em, I luv em because so many of them have been tried by fire and have come out as Gold! They are older than 50 [I'm the exception that they graciously have allowed so that I can be there with Gramma : )], and they have been through some struggles in their lifetime. Anyway back to the point, I was there sharing with them and was again, myself, reminded of another blessing God has given me in my own backyard.

Many may know that while in college, I was DETERMINED that I would follow the call of God, believing that my calling was to go to unreached tribal peoples with the Good News of Jesus. I took Greek, Missions classes, saw "The Wait of the World" a gazillion times, went to missions retreats/seminars, you name it!!! Preparation for the field was ever on my mind. I went on mission trips to Mexico and up into the mountains to the Mixes - who had never seen a white woman. LOVED IT! Holding the banana leaf as I squatted sliding down the decline as it was a mountain, crossing a rushing river at the near end of an 8 hour walk, waking to the sound of cock roaches the size of a small cell phone [almost wish I hadn't brought that flash light], taking a "shower" and turning around to look up the mountain and see that I was some of the villages' entertainment - they were sitting as if watching a movie - so I was glad I'd decided to leave the T-shirt on; all of the adventures were great. But nothing compared to praying for the man with some kind of eye issue (even if he wasn't healed), or stading in front of all the people and telling them -through two translators- about the God who created everything and sent His son Jesus to deliver all people from our sin problem. It was my dream being fulfilled.

So I graduated and said, "OK God, where to now - Mexico's mountains, Bolivia, Africa?" But of course, not the States right?!! Each Summer, I continued going out to the camps and loving my time of telling the precious children about Jesus! I was learning another culture and making mistakes - BIG mistakes - but still learning all the while. After graduation, I felt certain the Lord would "send" me some where. Until He did, I was thrilled to be with the friends I'd met at the camps each year; the children were so smart and eager to learn about Jesus. But it wasn't the mission field, I thought, and I needed to be on the mission field. So year after year I'd go out meeting people from so many different nations, Indians from India, Haitians, Guatemalans from many different tribes speaking different dialects, even Kan jo bal Indians who spoke very little Spanish and I was able to find a portion of the Scripture in their language as some translators from the region were on furlough in Texas!, Nicaraguans, Mexicans, etc. . . All the while there was a wrestling with the Lord that I needed to be on the mission field!!!! Finally, as my dear friends had been trying to tell me, I stopped and thought of all the people groups whom the Lord had really blessed me with being able to share His Good News. The realization hit me. The mission field and a treasure trove of opportunities to meet people from so many different countries, tribes, languages, situations were coming to my own backyard! God is so amazingly gracious, patient, faithful, compassionate and perfect in His ways!!!!!! I truly do thank the Lord who, though I am NOT worthy, has considered me faithful and put me into service providing His Summer Blessings. His Treasures brought to Our Own Backyard.