Jesus and Logistics.
Spiritual and Practical.
Two things I believed didn’t gel well together. But was I oh so gloriously wrong.
Before I go on, I’d like to make a clarification:
There’s a BIG DIFFERENCE in doing logistics on my own vs. letting the Holy Spirit lead me.
When I let the Holy Spirit lead me in logistics, my life was turned upside down. I’d get the urge to send random emails to people in different cities than we planned on going to, I’ve brought up things in conversations that didn’t make sense, I’d get the sense of trusting one company over another even though practically it doesn’t make sense, and the list goes on.
That’s what happens when you have a teacher that guides you in every area of your life. Praise the Lamb, otherwise, our travels as a squad would’ve looked very different.
I’d love to give you all insight into God’s goodness and the Holy Spirit’s help in my serving in logistics.
From Bolivia to Peru, I didn’t have my other half to L Squared, Laura, because her team was off to pioneer Chile. She gave me all the bus tickets for our 30 hr bus ride, and I showed up to the bus station with tickets in hand.
I was terrified and overwhelmed. Could Jesus really pull this off?!
But of course He did. Why do I ever doubt Him in the first place?
We crossed the border without a hitch and I call Cesar, our contact, for the first time. Turns out, he has a friend nearby that just so happens to be driving a bus and he can bring our entire squad to YWAM for the price we agreed upon previously. What???
Side note: We were initially going to go to Cuzco for LDW but I felt led to send an email to YWAM Lima. I didn’t hear back from them for 8 days (I completely forgot about that email to be honest), but when Cuzco fell through for various reasons, this awesome opportunity from God fell into our lap. It was days before we left Bolivia and it was within budget. Can I get an amen?!
So we arrive at YWAM Lima and everyone is incredibly welcoming and wonderful. I start talking to Cesar and come to find out within walking distance we have Chili’s, Starbucks, and other great places, which our squad was talking about going to beforehand. This for me was amazing because we were a little outside the city and I was nervous (seriously, I can’t believe I doubt God’s goodness) that it wouldn’t work out.
To top it all off, he told me that the BEACH was within walking distance as well. When Cesar said this, I heard Jesus whisper to me, “That’s for you. I’ll always take care of you.”
Fast forward to this month prepping for our move from Peru to Ecuador.
Our teams were scattered all over Peru and logistically we were trying to figure out the safest, most financially reasonable way to get everyone together and across to our next country. Laura was taking care of our hostel situation for debrief, and I was in charge of transportation.
Let’s just say that trying to book bus tickets in advance on the phone in Spanish for 35 people is near impossible. It came down to the wire and I thought I would need to go into Lima a day early with a squad leader to get everything situated.
I called Cesar to bring him up to date for our stay in Lima. He so graciously opened up YWAM to us again as a base for us to regroup as a squad. At the end of our conversation, I felt the Spirit lead me to explain our bus situation to him.
So I did.
What came of it shocked me. He told me he could book all of our tickets and pay it all in advance. Within the hour, he dropped almost over $1,500 and we were secure for the first leg of our journey.
It was wonderful too because this route allowed us to at least spend part of Thanksgiving enjoying it in Lima and getting in touch with family back home.
We went without a hitch from Lima to Tumbes and picked up the rest of our squad. We illegally crossed the Peru/Ecuador border on accident, but getting back out and in again legally was easy. We got to chill at immigration (it was awesome, quiet, and empty) and our private bus picked us up from their instead of at a noisy bus station.
These are just a few instances of how God has shown up in mighty ways to bless our squad. I’m thankful to have the Spirit as my teacher and I’m blessed to be able to learn and grow in a new ministry.
Even something as practical as logistics can be dramatically transformed when you let the Spirit enter and do His work.
What areas in your life can you give the Spirit more room to enter and work in?
P.S. L Squared A.K.A. Logistics Ladies is the name Laura and I made up for ourselves. Woot!
