I love how the Holy Spirit works.
Sometimes it’s like a game of connect the dots, and only when you get to a certain dot do you realize the other dots were there to serve a purpose.
Let me explain.
Last month, I didn’t even know what Iris Ministries was (an organization started by Heidi Baker out of Bethel in Redding, CA). I found out about it in Swaziland when I watched a movie called Compelled by Love with my friend Cj, a fellow Kentuckian. A movie that had driven Cj to sign up for a World Race route that included Mozambique, where Iris originated.
Dots.
Here’s the catch – the movie was made before Iris came to Madagascar. God was waiting to drop that fact on us this week like the big, much anticipated present that comes out of hiding on Christmas Day after all the other presents have already been opened.
Last year, my heart broke into a million pieces as I watched street children in Madagascar clamor for food. I heard about an orphanage that housed 140 people but I didn’t know where it was or how to get there. I knew one day I would go. Earlier this week I realized that orphanage was owned by Iris Ministries.
Dots.
Flash forward to today. We’re staying at a guest house for a few days on the complete opposite end of town where our ministry is located. Cj asked me to go running with him so he wouldn’t violate the World Race policy of going anywhere by himself. I hate running, but it’s been a rough week and I wanted to be a good friend, so I told him if he walked me to the local Shop Rite, I would wait there while he ran in the area around it. Here’s the background on that: After getting robbed last year on my own Race, I get skittish about going anywhere close to dark, and get nervous about being alone in a developing country. So it’s pretty much a miracle I even agreed to go, but here we are.
By the way, it’s been a wild day. I can’t even go into the half of it here, but just know part of it included a Malagasy man walking into my hotel room, shutting the door, and sitting down next to me on my bed. What. The. Heck. Luckily got out of that one lickety-split using the ole ‘bathroom calls’ then ‘well thanks for stopping by but time for you to go’ move.
Anyway. Somehow we found ourselves on a Malagasy bus to try to shorten the trip. Can’t even describe this one to anyone who hasn’t traveled in a 3rd world country, but let me just say – they are not made for American behinds. Think six people crammed into a space made for four very small people. All you can do is laugh hysterically when you notice how inconveniently uncomfortable and unhappy the tiny Malagasy people are around you. We got off ten minutes and one blaring 90’s love ballad later after realizing we had moved ten feet and decided to walk to the grocery store instead.
About 2 minutes into my foray into Shop Rite, I struck up a conversation with a pretty blonde lady who told me she was from South Africa…
“So what are you doing in Madagascar?” I wasn’t prepared for what the Holy Spirit was about to hit me with.
“I work with Iris Ministries.” Mic. Drop. I don’t even know what happened next, because it was caught up in a swirl of “Oh my gosh this is such a God moment” exclamations and invitations to dinner and plans to visit the orphanage with a personal tour from my new friend Mari herself.
Connect. The. Dots.
My heart literally felt like it was going to beat out of it’s chest with excitement as I waited for Cj to finish his run so I could tell him what the heck just happened. Iris Ministries is his JAM. Earlier this week when I found out there was an Iris base here, I was afraid to tell him because I literally thought that none of us would ever see him again. We’d find out years later he’d become BF.F.s with Heidi Baker and had adopted 20 Malagasy babies.
Back to tonight. Mari and Michel blessed our socks off. They made us chipati with sliced avocados, sautéed meat and onions, lettuce and tomatoes. We finished off the dinner with hot tea and chocolate. And they had a piano! That’s Cj’s thing – so he was in his element. And I sang! Which is a huge deal, considering I was *actually crying last week talking about how I felt like I had lost my singing voice. So it was a pretty big deal for me.
Anyway, after new friendship and warm fellowship, laughs and hugs, we just got dropped back off at the guest house about an hour ago (it’s like 12:14am now but I had to write this rambling blog post while it’s all still fresh!).
Oh and get this – Mari and Michel lived in Chattanooga (where my sister and her family live) for 24 years, just moved here two years ago… and Michel worked at the hospital which is the parent hospital of where my niece and nephew were born! Such a small world.
Tomorrow morning we’ll walk to the Iris Ministries orphanage to meet up with Mari… Which, ironically, is about a 10 minute walk from the Guest House. Don’t ya just love how God orchestrates these things?
