Monday,
Tuesday, and Wednesday this week suddenly became free days for my team mate Katie
and I. The other four members of our team left for Costa Rica to meet up with a
friend and relax. Katie and I
looked forward to the opportunity to bond and study the word together. But we
had no clue what God wanted us to do these three days. Yes we could take a
beach day, or travel to a volcano, but our hearts were set on ministry.
Monday morning we caught a
ride in a taxi and headed toward the city. We had already prayed for divine appointments and for God to
show us what He wanted us to do that day.
We ended up sitting down for lunch at a pizza parlor and had a great
conversation about prayer and the Holy Spirit.
Towards the end of our meal a
homeless mother and daughter came up to our table. They were hungry.
We had plenty of food left over, so it was a no brainer on what to do
next. We gave them our food. Then they asked for money to buy the little girl
shoes. Katie and I looked at each
other and agreed, let’s buy them some shoes.
We made our way through
town to the nearest shoe store. We
made the purchases and headed back to find the mother and daughter. I had a feeling that they half trusted
we would return with shoes. But
once we turned the corner and they saw our hands holding shoes, their faces lit
up. We sat down and put their
shoes on and their faces were beaming.
We shared with them about God and told the little girl that
she was beautiful and loved. Her
name actually was “Miracle“.
After
praying for them, we left in search for another ministry opportunity. Katie’s church back home works with a
ministry called Abrazo de Amor
(Arms of Love). Which is an orphanage here in Nicaragua. We tried searching for it, but no one seemed
to have ever heard of it. Finally
we grabbed a taxi and hoped for the best.
The taxi somehow found the way to the orphanage. The kids were around the ages of
11-13. And even though Katie
and I came with empty hands, we knew we had a full dose of love in our hearts
ready to be poured out. We spent the next two hours playing
with the kids; we played soccer, swung on swing sets, slid down slides, and
acted like kids.
At the end
of my day I looked back and saw how God’s hand was working throughout my
day. It is such an awe-inspiring
feeling when we leave our day up to God. When we set out on a mission to find God opportunities in every situation. The thing is, if we give up our day,
God will do something with it.
We don’t need to
plan out ministry for God to show up, we simply just have to listen and obey
and God will show up.
