Just a few days ago, my wife and I finally bought tickets to go to our country! We are very excited to go to the Middle East and serve, yet we would be lying if we said we didn't share any of our supporters' concerns. The state of international affairs has been better than it is now. That's not something to ignore.
And yet, we still trust that it is our God who told us to go to this place. He knew long ago that Iran would want nuclear power and that the US would try to make sure that didn’t happen. He knew that these things would be occurring at the same time as our travel plans, but He still told us to go. God has been faithful in communicating to us His desires and in providing for our ministry. "Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens." Perish the thought that I should disobey the King when He calls! The call of the Christian is to hold God's faithfulness, goodness, and power in one hand and to hold the struggles, sufferings, and uncertainties of this life in the other. Neither is ignored, and one does not squash the other. I believe that God has good things for us in the Middle East, but even if things work out differently, I am not to disobey what I know He has said.
To this point, the road was far ahead, hard to be seen or even concretely imagined. But now, with plane tickets in our email inboxes, it is much more real. Our schedules between now and then have become predictable, the days countable. The stomach churns a little when that reality settles in. The road used to be full of proverbial flowers and rainbows--it has certainly darkened from that conception. Should it become very obviously unsafe, we might have to reschedule our flight (unless God VERY expressly says otherwise!).
But as we prepare ourselves now to go in just a few months, and as we see the road darken, we still want to be seen by God as faithful. The road might continue to darken, or it might lighten. Our task is only to look ahead to where Christ is leading and follow His example. Did Christ not, for the joy set before Him, endure the cross? Are we not to deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and follow Him?