God’s plan is so much greater than all of our own plans. I struggle so much with trying to control my life and where I am going to end up. I have struggled with being anxious about plans and the future. The beautiful reality of it is we all have a Father who not only has a perfect plan for our lives but also is actively involved in our lives and will guide and direct our lives.
Our Father is the creator of the universe. Why would I ever doubt that His plans for my life are better than my own? Why would I want to control the direction of my life when I have a Father who loved me enough to lay down His life to pay for my sins so that I could spend eternity with Him in heaven?
Yet, I still strive for control sometimes. Too often.
I want to share stories of amazing things God did to direct our past weekend in bullet points. During a typical week here at the castle, we have Sundays off to take a day of rest. However, this past weekend, our contact, gave us Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off to travel, viajar con Nicaragua. We had decided as a team to go to a colonial artistic town called Granada and a beautiful island Ometepe to visit two teams on our squad who were able to do ministry there this month. This was the plan.
I was put in charge of planning the weekend. God has given me a gift of being a big picture girl. I am a visionary; however, figuring out the details stress me out! Those are not my forte. While planning for the weekend, I could feel myself stressing out and getting anxious. It is very hard to plan a weekend getaway with no cell phone and limited internet. What if the hostel had no rooms? What if we didn’t get to the ferry or bus station on time? What if we’re stuck waiting forever? These questions all roamed in my mind. I couldn’t take it any longer because I was getting so worried over all of the details.
God told me to trust Him. It was a gift we get to go away on this weekend adventure and that we will cherish it no matter what. So we prayed over the weekend and for safe travels and here is how God orchestrated it:
- Our contact just so happened to be driving to the bus station to get us to the bus needed to go to Rivas. At Rivas, after the bus had dropped everyone off, it continued to drive us, only my team of six women, to a taxi driver who would take us to San Jorge. Crazy! The taxi got us to San Jorge just in time to buy tickets for a ferry. God helped me perfectly understand the man to buy tickets from him and we full on sprinted by the water in a dress with a daypack to catch the ferry in perfect timing. I then began to worry about not having internet to find a hostel. Yet, leaving the ferry in Ometepe a man had a sign up saying Susanna that drove us to Charco Verde island, the island we were staying at and found us a cabin to stay at and gave us great information on the area. No need to worry!
- We decided to go to Charco Verde on a whim that morning. The other World Race team, without knowing our plans, also wanted to go to Charco Verde that day. That is not random.
- After several members on my team being sick, God knew we needed relaxation and good food. The only restaurant was selling us fruit, fish, granola, yogurt, and great food! Our cabin fit 6 people perfectly and was right on the volcanic ash beach in front of a beautiful lake.
- After spending a day and a half there and having fun with the other team, we departed for the planned Granda. We took the ferry off of the island and a taxi to Rivas. We got to Rivas at dark, the taxi drivers seemed to be sketch, and there were no more buses to Granada. We couldn’t stay in Rivas because it isn’t safe. If we took the taxi to Granada, it was going to be extremely expensive. We had heard San Juan del Sur was beautiful and it was only about 45 minutes away. It would be less expensive to go there, safe, and we’d get there before it was getting too late. Also, we had found out we’d possibly be going to Granada later on in the month.
- Despite not having researched the area or knowing where we’d stay, we decided to take the leap and go to San Juan del Sur.
- Getting there, it was absolutely breathtaking! It was a beach town. We found a hostel to stay at for an inexpensive price with a bunch of surfers that also would serve us pancakes and fresh fruit for breakfast. We got to have amazing coffee, eat dinner on the beach, relax on the water, etc. It was perfect; God’s plan in going there was so much better than what I had planned.
God divinely orchestrates moments. The Holy Spirit moves still today. He heals people still today.
- After we had left San Juan del Sur, we were on an extremely overcrowded bus going back to the castle on about a two hour bus ride.
- Despite the discomfort, God was putting it on my heart as to how I could share His love to these people who looked hot and miserable on the bus. Right after, a seat cleared up next to my teammate Lauren and close to Tayo. I was able to sit down finally!
- All of a sudden, I noticed Tayo talking to one of the men who worked for the bus bringing people on the bus. He was mute and deaf. I could tell she was trying to pray for the man but distraction kept happening. At one point, he was hanging on to the bus outside of the bus because there were so many people in it!
- Lauren told me that this man was going to speak and was going to get healed. She felt the holy spirit telling her that. She began to pray. I began to pray that Tayo would finally be able to pray for this man. That nothing would distract her or him from her being able to pray for him.
- Tayo laid lands on him and began to pray. Lauren and I laid hands on Tayo as we all began to pray for this man. After discussion, God laid it on all of our hearts to pray for this man to have the faith it took to believe to be healed and to hear again.
Tayo after praying asked if he understood her. This man who has never heard or spoke before said ‘si,’ meaning yes!
Whatever situation you are in, God’s plans are far greater. Stop trying to control your life no matter your age, financial situation, how scary it may seem to let go. God’s plan for you is so great because He loves and cares for us so much. He has a perfectly orchestrated plan for our lives. All we need to do is trust in Him and rest in His presence.
“Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make straight your paths.”
