Since being in India I have been seeing God work in some unexpected ways, and He has been reminding me a lot recently of ways He has enacted His plan in my life in the past. I always believed “everything happened for a reason,” but God puts that phrase in a whole new perspective when you start following Him. When you decide to reach out and take hold of His outstretched hand. For me since doing just that, my eyes have been opened to God’s beautifully mysterious plan as it happens and while reminiscing. He is in the big important parts of life, but He is also in the small, seemingly unimportant daily tasks. And everything in between.
First off, I am sitting in my bed in Manipur, India solely because of God’s plan for my life. Let me add He was going through this plan before I was even aware. When I wasn’t even paying attention to Him. He used things as small as Instagram captions and as big as strangers donating incredibly large amounts of money to get me here. He even used loss, heartbreak, and betrayal to get me here and to grow me. He is currently using each of my teammates and me being team leader for His plan (I could write an entire blog about that one).
On our first day here in India, I remember riding on a bus on the way into the village we are staying in with tears in my eyes. I was overwhelmed with joy. For some reason I felt so at peace where I was, even though I hadn’t even stepped off the bus yet. Then that night we were told we were only staying for 9 days. I was heartbroken. Discouraged. All I could think was how much ~I~ wanted to stay and how much ~I~ thought I was supposed to be here. A week passed, and throughout that week God really taught me a lesson. It was that I needed to learn to trust in His plan, even when things happen that I don’t understand and that are hard. When I had finally grasped that and was at peace with leaving, we were told (the night before the 9th day) that we were actually staying through Christmas and coming back for all of February. God used a miscommunication to show me that I needed to trust in His plan even when it isn’t in line with what I want or what I think should happen.
I have also been more aware of God using “smaller things” for his plan as well. One day a teammate and I were asking about fundraising for another teammate who was behind on their deadline, and we were told that prayer once lead to someone getting donated $5,000. I disregarded it and tried to think of concrete ways to get more funds. Then the teammate who was behind on money walked in, not even hours later, and said a stranger had donated them, yes, $5,000. He used that specific conversation (even the timing of it) to show me that He will provide and that I needed to have more faith in Him and not just what I could do.
The other day I was searching SO hard for a quiet place to be alone and read/journal. My search lead me to a quiet balcony on the backside of the place we are staying. I opened my Bible to continue reading in John, and happened to be on John 4 (the story about the woman at the well). After reading the story, I looked out to see a woman drawing water from a well right in front of me. God spoke to me through seeing that more than I can really type out and explain, and I understood the story so much more and I felt so close to Him. He used the whole house being noisy to draw me to the balcony for just that moment.
God especially has been working through our ministry. We do a lot of construction ministry here, like moving dirt, bricks, and cement to help build a hospital and seminary school. It has helped me press into trusting more in His will for my time here. Obviously, it helps get the jobs done faster and therefore allows those buildings to be used earlier, which is great. But it has also started conversations about how to make relationships while doing a surface level ministry, like construction. About how to use times when we aren’t doing construction to also further His purpose in other ways. Not to mention if it wasn’t for working in these places I wouldn’t have met and become friends with some seriously amazing people. On the smaller scale, I wouldn’t have heard (shoutout) Jesse’s fire worship playlist that encouraged me more than you would think. I could go on and on.
I love talking about God’s will and plan, because everything connects. You start to understand why certain things happen. You start to see Him in the little things. It is honestly mind-blowing, and it makes me feel closer to God than ever. This gives me peace and hope that, yes, everything happens for a reason. But even better than that, everything happens for HIS good reasoning.
