This past week was the Parent Vision Trip, a week when parents come to visit their child on the field. They participate in ministry and explore the city together. My parents decided not to come to PVT, and for awhile that really bothered me. I wanted to see them, but that wasn’t even the main reason why I wanted them to come. I mostly wanted them to experience God in a way that they had never experienced Him before. I wanted them to participate in international missions and see me doing something I am passionate about. Every reason they gave for not coming I saw as an excuse. I felt like if they prayed hard enough and put more trust in God that God would tell them they needed to come to India. But every time I brought up the subject, the answer was always no. I prayed that if God wouldn’t change their hearts that He would change mine. I prayed I would have peace about their decision not to come.
That peace didn’t come at first, but it did eventually come.
I began to realize that maybe they weren’t just giving me excuses. My mom has had a huge battle with vertigo for years but it has gotten worse since I left, and I saw that she wasn’t just using that as a way to get out of coming because she was scared. I heard her heart when she told me she had prayed and prayed about coming, and I believed her when she said she didn’t feel a peace about making the trip.
I also realized that God doesn’t need a mission trip to work in their lives; He can do that right where they live. And He has. Right before I left, my parents began attending a new church. While I have been on the Race, they have become more and more active in the church. They go to Sunday School and Bible study groups. They greet once or twice a month. My mom is apart of the foster care ministry. The way they have so quickly stepped out of their comfort zones has surprised me. I have also seen huge changes in my mom. I have seen her faith expand tremendously over the last 8 months, even to the point of her wanting to go on a mission trip with me in the future. The things I have been hoping and praying for have begun to happen…and all without them coming across the world to India.
For the past week, instead of doing life with my parents, I have done life with the rest of “the orphans” (no, none of us are actually orphans, and we know that!). We have spent the week in Hampi, and it has become one of my favorite places I have adventured on the Race. We have relaxed. We have hiked. We have bouldered. We have played games, including a nightly game of Settlers of Catan. We have eaten cheap but delicious food. We have explored. And it has been refreshing and exciting all in one! I have seen that even the rocks point back to God, that they show His power and His strength and His beauty all at once.
I praise God for the way He orchestrates everything, from the way He orchestrated how each rock was fit together perfectly to the way He orchestrated our group’s trip to Hampi to the way He orchestrated that me and two of my teammates didn’t actually get left by the train (funny story!). I don’t always understand what He is doing or why, but I have seen His goodness and felt His peace where once there was only confusion and frustration. I am learning that God is a great planner, so I don’t have to try to be one.
