2/20/20
Yesterday was our first Wednesday in ministry in Costa Rica. Wednesday is a long day on the schedule. Wednesday is the day we go to the women’s prison in town for ministry. Our day begins at 5:30 for quiet time, breakfast, and leaving by 6:30. We were scheduled to return around 4pm after a long, long day of ministry.
We didn’t know exactly what to expect, but we were excited to learn how to do prison ministry. We were excited for a new experience.
Unfortunately, our plans changed.
There was a miscommunication with the bus driver, and he didn’t come until 7:30. We started on our way to the jail, but our leaders informed us we couldn’t get in after the opening hours had passed.
Our entire day of plans was quickly wiped out, but nobody was upset. Some of the girls on my team said they’d been trying to pray over our ministry at the prison today, but God had kept saying “no.” They had a feeling we weren’t going to the prison today.
And out of not going to the prison, we gained what I feel were 2 very important blessings.
You see, I say nobody was upset, but I think one person was a little upset: our bus driver, a fabulous man named Alfredo who exudes faith and love for Christ with every single thing he says and does. I think he felt a little bit like he’d let us down.
We didn’t want him to feel that way.
We trusted that God had plans for us.
We wanted Alfredo to know that we love him.
The only deliberating in the situation was how best to show him our love. So, we stepped off the bus, bounced ideas, and stepped back on within minutes to pray over our dear friend Alfredo. To pray that he would know how loved he is by our team.
I knew it meant something to him that we prayed for him, but I didn’t know how much it meant until that afternoon after our impromptu ministry joining the other team on their site, when Alfredo stopped to buy all of us ice cream.
We had made him feel so loved this morning that he wanted to make us feel loved too. And that was one snack I was blessed to accept and enjoy with a full heart. I took my friend Hannah’s advice and tried the cas flavor. Cas is apparently some kind of fruit we don’t have in the States. It was pretty good. I can’t wait to try the real thing.
I felt like it was a blessing from God today as we ended our fasting from snack foods Wednesday night. But, fasting isn’t about what you give up, it’s about the state of your heart in seeking the Lord. There are some snacks nobody should ever give up, and those are the ones that are meant to spread God’s love.
I think it was the perfect way for God to end our fasting. As people who know me know, I’m not that big of a snacker, but God had a lot to teach me this week about food and gifts and snacks and love. As you know, I already wrote one blog this week about the meaning of cake.
I’m grateful God found me in fasting this week. And I’m grateful God uses things like miscommunications to spread His love and help people know how cherished they are.
That’s the first blessing in not going to the prison.
The second was the actual ministry we went to because of the people we went with. You see, some members of our team stayed back to take care of other obligations such as treasurer duties or logistical planning of the trip. It just so happened that Wednesday was the day both of the guys on the other team were staying back.
So we got to have a bit of a girls’ party at the ministry.
The thing is, we’d been praying for an opportunity to spend more time with the girls on the other team, Canvas and Clay, during this month while we’re all together. We love all the girls on our squad and it’s kinda sad we don’t always get to spend time together.
We were blessed today to get down and dirty with some physical labor of moving around pieces of soccer turf, which are H.E.A.V.Y. We literally needed our entire group and some local men who were there all together to move those pieces of turf. I can’t even imagine what would have happened if the few members of Canvas and Clay that were available today had tried to go do that ministry on their own. God knew what He was doing. God knew the blessings He was pouring into all of us with the chance to spend time together and get some of the work actually done with enough man power.
God’s pretty cool like that.
I know this isn’t the first time I’ve had my plans change in my life. I can’t say I’ve always looked on it positively. I can’t say I’ve always felt like it worked out for the best.
But I can say it’s always worked out.
I can say I know God has always been working in those situations when my plans changed.
I can say this isn’t the first time I’ve been surprised by the opportunity to see God’s love in an unexpected situation.
I’m going to try and have a better attitude about these things in the future, always remembering God’s presence in everything and God’s love always.
I encourage you to do the same.
Always look for the opportunity to spread God’s love when things don’t go how you planned.
