What would you have done?

My new memoir, Please, God, Don’t Make Me Go: A Foot-Dragger’s Memoir, begins this way:

My husband, Dave, burst through the front door of our Seattle home and, with a boyish grin and outstretched arms, announced, “We’re moving to Lomalinda! I’m going to teach there!” 

A few seconds passed before I could wheeze in enough air to speak. “Where is Lomalinda?”  

“Colombia, South America!”  

I collapsed to the floor.  

I’d always expected we’d live a normal, predictable, all-American life but, without warning, my husband declared he had other ideas.  

It was February 1975 and, as youth director for our church, Dave had taken college kids to a Wycliffe BibleTranslators’ event hoping some would consider missions work. 

The meeting failed to persuade any of his young people but, when Dave learned Wycliffe needed teachers for their missionaries’ kids in Lomalinda, he was hooked. He wanted to move the four of us, including our preschoolers, Matt and Karen, to a dinky outpost in the middle of nowhere. . . .  

The thought of living in Colombia scared me out of my wits. And that was before I’d learned about guerrillas and kidnappings. But, like Abraham, Dave had heard God’s voice, “Leave your homeland.”  

I begged in prayer, “Please, God, don’t make me go!”  

Dave longed to hear me say, “Sure, let’s go!” But I didn’t like his idea. Not at all. The plans I’d made for my life did not include living in Lomalinda. The thought of moving to a patch of grassland in South America made me choke. Uttering the word “yes” was unthinkable.

If you’d been in my place, what would you have done?

Dave’s new plan interrupted the dreams and plans I had for myself as his wife and as the mother of his children.

I don’t appreciate interruptions in general—but this interruption was a doozie . . . . Moving to rural South America?!

And this was not just an interruption, it was a surprise—shocking, traumatic. Dave had given no hints that he’d been thinking along those lines. His desire to teach missionaries’ kids in Colombia left me stunned—as evidenced by my reaction: collapsing to the floor.

What would you have done? 

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Come on back and we’ll talk more about this.

Please, God, Don’t Make Me Go: A Foot-Dragger's Memoir is on special right now at Barnes and Noble for $14.84! That’s an 18% savings! The memoir will be published on June 4, but you can pre-order it now.

You can also pre-order the memoir through your independent bookseller, or Powell’s Books in Portland, Books-A-Million, and Amazon. Those in the UK can order it through Eden Co UK.

Any day now it will be available as an ebook.

Welcome to my adventures—some of them almost other-worldly

Welcome! I hope you’ll find a few laughs here, a few adventures, plus some encouragement and inspiration along the way.

In coming months, you and I will delve into the challenges and unwelcome surprises—but also the joys and wonders—of living in Lomalinda, a mission center built on a cluster of hills in rural Colombia, South America. (In Spanish, Lomalinda means pretty hill.)

I’ll show you pictures from my scrapbook, intrigue you with links to related info, share recipes with you, and tell you stories you won't find in Please, God, Don’t Make Me Go! A Foot-Dragger’s Memoir.

Sometimes you’ll hear from—and maybe interact with—people you’ve met in my book.

You’ll join my family and me in our discoveries and adventures (some of them almost other-worldly), but you’ll also learn about and, I hope, learn from my lack of faith and my struggle to trust God—who never gave up on me.

And so, be forewarned: Reading this memoir and this blog could change your life!

Here’s a glimpse into what you’ll find in Please, God, Don’t Make Me Go: AFoot-Dragger’s Memoir:

What’s a comfortable—and cowardly—suburbanite to do when her husband wants to move the family to rural Colombia, South America, so he can teach missionaries’ kids?

Linda begs God, “Please don’t make me go!” but He sides with her husband, Dave. So, with a good attitude—well, a pretty good attitude—she turns her back on the American dream and, with timid faith and wobbly courage, sets out with Dave and their kids on a life-changing adventure.

But when culture shock, tropical heat, and a certain boa constrictor threaten to undo her, she considers running away and hiking back to the U.S. Instead, she fights through it and soon falls in love with her work alongside current-day heroes of the faith disguised as regular folks.

Once life is under control, predictable, and easy, Linda receives an unwelcome surprise—a request to travel to one of the world’s most dangerous drug-dealing regions where hundreds of Colombians and Americans have recently died. In fact, most of Colombia is dangerous. Marxist guerrillas don’t like Americans, proving it with bombs, kidnapping, and eventually murder. Linda doesn’t want to leave the only safe place—the mission center—because she doesn’t trust God or herself to make the trip.

Again she begs, “Please, God, don’t make me go!” But she does go. How does she find the faith and courage to set out?

In this heartwarming, sometimes humorous, and sometimes shocking memoir, you’ll walk alongside this young wife and mother as she must choose between:

• her plans and God’s,
• cowardice and courage,
• fear and faith.

Please, God, Don’t Make Me Go will inspire you to cancel membership in the Society of the Faint-hearted, enjoy God more, take a quaking leap of faith, and relish the adventures God dreams up.

Be sure to join us on Facebook at Please, God, Don’t Make Me Go: A Foot-Dragger’s Memoir.

Come back next week. I’ll tell you more about my escapades in South America.

You can pre-order Please, God, Don’t Make Me Go! A Foot-Dragger’s Memoir at Amazon or, if you’re in the UK, click on Eden.co.uk. Soon my memoir will be available through many more distributors and retailers.