“Everything can change in an instant.” I am chuckling as I type that because I have never had a statement be so true.
During my last day in Australia, I made my normal cup of coffee, headed out the back door of the church we were staying in, and sat in my normal chair to look at the beautiful nature outside of our temporary home. It was windy and cold, a sensation I was yet to feel since being in Coffs Harbour. The weather had a sort of eeriness about it, but I began my morning prayers as usual. My squad was starting our journey to our next country that day, and I asked God for some vision of what I could expect. I heard him clearly say, “Everything can change in an instant.” Ooof. That sounds…. heavy. But I took that word with me.
Fast forward to my team’s excursion to Komodo Island. I was still trying to figure out what this big change was going to be. As we settled into our daily routine of meeting locals and prayer walking, we hadn’t gotten the chance to share the gospel with anybody yet. We all were getting antsy to share the good news, but knew we had to be strategic in our approach. We took some time to pray in the morning about where we all felt led for that day, my teammates listed off exciting activities like going to the school, going to specific locals, and more. All I heard God say was wait. Umm, ok. But he reminded me that everything can change in an instant, so I don’t need to feel like I am wasting time by waiting.
So, sitting in my long sleeve cardigan and full-length pants, beads of sweat rolling down my face, I sat right by the door, (This way, I still caught the breeze if there was one, and I still got shade from the house). I twiddled my thumbs, talked to God, sat in silence, and waited. Lunch came around, and I was still waiting. After lunch, I thought for sure God would tell me what to do, and he did! He said to keep waiting. Am I nuts? Maybe. Anyway, he finally told me I was good to go into the village. Myself and two other teammates went to the school first and walked around the rest of the village, it was by far our most successful day of ministry yet! We met tons of families, got to read scripture to people, taught children songs and made lasting connections, it was great! Then we ran into a man that we had met on our first night there! We’ll call him Gary for privacy reasons.
Gary was the village “funny guy”. The first thing he told us when we arrived was that the dragons prefer white meat… Oh Gary. We started talking about normal things with Gary, and then the conversation got deeper and we began talking about Allah. He looked around, and asked us to go out on to the dock to talk about this more. We got to share the entire gospel with Gary and we spent the evening sharing our beliefs. All of us were running late for dinner so we said our goodbyes and asked to pray to Jesus for Gary, he said of course! Our relationship with Gary continued to grow and he became especially close to some of my teammates! The last night, he planned a barbecue and dance party for our group of 7 to send us off, it was so much fun!
With all that being said, an amazing relationship formed and seeds were planted after a period of waiting. God taught me on a small scale that trying harder and doing more work doesn’t always equal more results. In his kingdom, everything can change in an instant. He is the miracle worker and knows the perfect timing. As we headed into our next ministry location, EVERYTHING really did change in an instant. We were told we needed to leave immediately and fly back to the United States as soon as possible.
Leaving the field has been an experience like no other. I don’t know what the next day will look like, I don’t know if or when I will get to go back on the field. I don’t know if I will get a job. I don’t know… anything. My lack of knowledge and understanding has forced me to wait and be present in the moment. I can’t plan ahead, I can’t change what’s going on, I have to wait and allow God to make miracles happen. Ecclesiastes 3 says there is a time for everything and everything has been made beautiful in it’s time. I can’t skip this period of waiting or make it go faster, all I can do is be present and content. He taught me on a small scale in Komodo that trying harder doesn’t always mean more results to prepare me for an entire season of waiting and sitting. I don’t know what tomorrow holds, all I know is that everything can change in an instant, and Abba is in control.
