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Mysterious Ways

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I have a confession to make so please be understanding.

Yesterday afternoon as I was driving home on the freeway I was talking to God. Coming home from yet another doctor's appointment where I became a pin cushion, I was asking God how in the world He would make things work out. To pay for my vaccinations for this year's Guatemala trip, I had just written a bad check in good faith that He would move on my behalf to provide.

I mean, He has to. The Lord is sending me to Guatemala for yet a second missions trip, and believe me, with trying to keep gas in my car and wondering how in the world I am going to pay rent for August 1st, writing a bad check for vaccinations was the last thing that worried me. But it worried me at that moment.

It was the icing on the cake so to speak and I was coasting down the freeway and complaining to God, "I know You're sending me to Guatemala, and I want to go, but if I can't pay my rent I can't go...I mean, I can't even pay for the vaccinations! You said You'd provide!"

So I got home, I'd grabbed the mail to see if there were any straggling donation checks...nope...and walked up to my front door and said hello to Pumpkin, the orange alley cat who all of a sudden has taken an interest in me. Crammed in the door was a small "Sorry We've Missed You!" notice. I'd missed a delivery from the mail man. I called and the woman on the line told me I would have to pick up my express mail envelope before 5:30 or the next morning (today) at 8:00.

The Lord had put it on my heart to participate in vacation bible school for the local kids in my area so I had to wait until this morning to pick up this mystery envelope. On the card under sender's name I recognized the last name that was scribbled to be that of my aunt's. So I thought that maybe my aunt had decided to send me something...her and I hadn't talked in awhile but she's always really ambitious to help me in my pursuits no matter how crazy I seem to the rest of the world. I had sent her a support letter for my Guatemala trip but was almost positive she wouldn't respond. Guess life is full of surprises.

But when I picked up the letter this morning, I pulled the tab off and noticed that the name on the return address was not that of my aunt's, but of a friend I have never met who happens to have the same last name as she does. Included was a letter.

Talk about surprises! The letter explained reasons for long absences of conversation and discussed the blessings of a new job and then apologized for the need to send a hasty typed up letter via express mail...which made me laugh. It had been hoped the letter would reach me before the 18th. I noticed it was sent the 15th, and had I been home to receive it, I would have received it on the 16th...so the post office definitely rushed it .

This friend wanted to help me on my trip to Guatemala and enclosed a check. I paused and laughed. God is an on time God. He makes me laugh because whenever I start to complain He shows me up...in a way telling me, "See I told you I would do it!" So the money goes into the bank account and affirms God's word when He told me to write a check for vaccinations that in my mind I knew would bounce. It goes to my trip.

So God is definitely good. It wasn't the money nor the amount that makes me say this; it is the sheer fact that whenever I need Him, He shows up. So I'm going to stop letting the enemy beat me up...if my God wants me to go on this trip, He will assure me that the rent will get paid so I have a home to return to, and that there will be every other provision that I may need. My pastor told me that when we are operating in the calling that God has for our lives that that is where our provision is. Right now it seems missionary work is where my calling is, and there has been provision.

This friend was a LitNetter. And there have been other LitNetters that have helped me operate in what God has called me to do through their prayers and donations. Now here is the confession...I didn't expect it. It is so mysterious and like God how He will use ways in which we do not expect to get us what we need...as if He is just proving that what happens is God and not man or coincidence.

I sent a support letter for Guatemala 2009 out to 53 people exactly. This number is because I prayed over my list before creating it. It took me a long time to getting to write the letter, because I didn't want to send a letter. It wasn't my desire to send a letter that obviously asked people to send me money, some of whom might think I'd be asking them to fund my crazy naive ambitions. Some of them wouldn't understand that God has blessed me to see something great.

In making the list, God told me who to send my letter off to. And the truth of the matter is, the few specific friends here on LitNet that I sent it to...were the last to be added on the list. I fought with God and told Him that I did not want to send a letter to people who I thought didn't have any reason to send a donation, after all, I've never met them.

It's funny when I think about it now because I've had some awesome times and conversations with the people here I sent the letter to. And God surprised me. It was never what was written on the check that made me cry and praise God...it was your testimonies...why you were donating, where you are at in your relationship with the Lord....in giving my letter to these few here on litnet, I learned a lot about what happens when God touches a heart.

So I just wanted to share with all litnet readers that there are some awesome people and they have some wonderful testimonies and stories to tell of their lives...even if they didn't exactly tell me their story. It's very touching and insightful and I have learned a lot of God and how He has moved in my friends' lives here.

Your prayers and support have made you part of this mission trip. Whatever God does in the people of Guatemala, however I experience His love and movement, however He is glorified...you are a very big part of it. You have helped to make it happen and have helped my faith and courage increase - and this will be crucial for my experience there. Thank you for helping me grow, and thank you for letting God use you.

God is going to do some amazing things. So my promise is to be more diligent in recording it this year. I owe it to you to return with news of His work. So stay tuned.
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