My kids love a good treasure hunt. As a kid I did too and quite frankly I still do. A couple years ago I surprised my parents for their birthdays by taking them and some of their friends to an Escape Room. Escape Rooms are basically adult versions of treasure hunts. We didn't escape from the room but it was crazy fun. We went back a few months later to try a different room. We are currently 0-2 on the Escape Room game.
I would venture to say a large majority of people, if given a treasure map, a real treasure map and told there was real treasure at the end, would take the map and start searching. Some people would even search without knowing for sure if they would indeed find treasure at the end. Why? Why do we love the idea of finding what's been hidden or lost? Why do we desire to be the first to discover something?
Just a few nights ago our family was discussing the Titanic around the dinner table. One of our children loves to read and learn all about the Titanic. She is constantly bringing home books from the library about the sinking of the mighty ship. As the conversation this night was coming to a close our son Brooks said, "When I grow up I'm going to search for that sunken ship." To which we all told him, "Brooks they already found the Titanic." His response, "Oh man! I was going to do that." Then our Titanic loving, adventure seeking daughter said, "I know, I wish I could have discovered it too."
I believe we love treasure hunts because the joy is in the hunt. There is joy and excitement in the searching. Even when you get to the end of the hunt and find the treasure, isn't there a part of you that is sad the hunt is over? If you've ever read a good mystery book or watched a movie with a mystery to solve, you know what I mean. We are glad when the mystery is solved, when our curiosity is satisfied but it also leaves us wanting another story, another mystery to solve. Why?
Because that's how we were created. "It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, But the glory of kings is to search out a matter." - Proverbs 25:2
Lately the Lord has been asking me this question, "Where is your treasure?"
Since Heath and I have been married we have wanted to do ministry together. The first few years of our marriage we wanted to move somewhere else, anywhere else but where we were. Then we had our first child, started serving in our local church, adopted another child, and became missionaries to an inner city neighbor in our own town. Over the next few years, we moved (more times than I like to count) had two more kids, adopted another. Then we moved again, remodeled a house, and surprise, another baby!
This whole time I had out my map, checking off destinations and making checklists of what to do at the next stop. But the whole time I had my sights set on my treasure. We wanted to be missionaries in Africa. We wanted to serve the Lord on the foreign mission field. I know many people might look at our life, the decisions we've made with our family, such as, how many times we moved, Heath's job and they might think we are unsettled. That we can't make up our mind what we want to do in life. That couldn't be farther from the truth. Because the truth is each move, each job change, each decision was made with one goal in mind, to answer the call from the Lord, to serve Him in Africa.
Now the time is drawing near. We have applied with a mission sending agency to serve in Africa and I can see the dream unfolding before my eyes but I hear the whisper in my ear saying, "Where is your treasure?"
This whole time I have been searching and working for the treasure He placed in my heart, but I haven't been looking to see the treasures He has placed all around me now. In every season He has shown me a new part of His being and developed something new in me. He held my feet to the ground when I wanted to fly because He needed to teach me the importance of obedience. He allowed me to trip and fall into temptation because He needed to crush my stubborn pride. He moved me away from everything familiar because He needed to show me He was all I needed.
And so He asks me again, "Daughter, where is your treasure?"
I have been guilty so many times of focusing so much on the future and the destination that I neglect all the beauty of the process. What I have started to discover is the treasure is in the process. The character He develops in me when He's preparing me, stretching me, and refining me is pure gold. It's treasure that can never be destroyed. Because He is my treasure. In every season, in every challenge, in every dream He has shown me true treasure. Sometimes I missed it but I don't want to miss any more.
"God's training is for now, not later. His purpose is for this very minute, not for sometime in the future. We have nothing to do with what will follow our obedience, and we are wrong to concern ourselves with it. What people call preparation, God sees as the goal itself." -Oswald Chambers
The goal I have been working towards for most of my adult life is within reach, the treasure almost in my very hands and I realize I was wrong. The treasure is both. It's here now and its ahead. The Lord has been filling up my treasure chest with precious jewels this whole time. He has given me a husband to share my crazy dreams with. He allowed me to bring forth life into this world through my womb, not once but four times. He asked me to love and parent two children who didn't come from my womb but another's. When I think back throughout my whole life, every relationship, every opportunity, every mistake and hardship, I see Him in it all. I see the joy, the divine and the honor He has bestowed on me time and time again. I see the treasure He has placed in my very hands.
"If we realize that moment-by-moment obedience is the goal, then each moment as it comes is precious." - Oswald Chambers
And yet there is still treasure left to be found, to be searched for.
Whether our family ever has the title of missionary or not, we will not stop hunting for treasure. We will take time to enjoy and thank Him for the treasures already in our hands. But our hearts burn to find more. To find the ones who need the hope of the Gospel. To find the ones who need to hear about the God who created them and loves them still. To find the orphans and the widows who need to know they aren't forgotten. We are going to Africa because He has given us great treasure in that place. He has brought children and dear friends and He is calling us still to go searching. Because we know, "where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." -Matthew 6:21
In February the whole Wilson tribe is headed across the Atlantic to the beautiful country of Uganda! Yes, we are taking all six children. Are we a little crazy? Maybe. But crazy works for us. This is the first mission trip for the whole family and we are busy counting. Counting down the days and counting up the costs! One number is significantly larger than the other, I'll let you guess which one. So we have designed a shirt to help our family get to Africa. We hope you will buy one, not only to help us get to Uganda but also as a reminder. We pray each time you wear this shirt, it will remind you to search for the treasures the Lord has given to you already and the ones He wants you to go searching for.
Click here to buy your Treasure Tee and get us one step closer to Africa!
All our love-
The Wilson Tribe
