I love making plans. I often go into my day having objectives of what I want to do. I find it enjoyable to plan out weekend trips or research places to go on a family vacation. Most of my fall is already planned out & I am writing this inside during a summer thunderstorm.
Sometimes it’s easy to find comfort in these plans, & when plans change I can certainly be resistant to change.
In ministry, things change often. I think part of this is because we work with people, and people change. Even more so, when we follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, the plans we have often get shaken up a bit in the process.
Our team on a recent trip to Zambia had the chance to experience these changes. At the beginning of the week, we had a schedule for where we would be serving, who we’d be serving, and when we’d be doing it. The Lord was about to teach us a lot about what it means to leave those plans behind & follow His leading.
We were invited to join a Bible study with some widows in the community. When we heard we’d be joining them, we started thinking of songs we could sing and words we could share with these women.
Upon our arrival, it was very clear that they were the ones leading this Bible study, not us. We sat inspired by their dedication to the Lord & to each other. So inspired that our schedule changed later in the week to join them again, when we found ourselves again amazed by the faith and fellowship these women have found.
Without an openness to change our plans, we wouldn’t have been able to experience this.
On our last day of ministry, we woke up early to set up for a kids camp for some children from a local orphanage. This was the moment we had all been waiting for. Throughout the week, we had put several hours into cleaning up a park and planning for the camp. Now, all we needed was for the bus load of kids to arrive.
The leader of the ministry left to pick up the kids. After some time passed, he returned, but there were no kids with him. He shared with us the devastating news that there had been an accident the night before, and the kids were mourning the passing of their friend.
Our team stood quietly, surrounded by the games & crafts we had prepared for the kids. We began to pray. Our prayer was simple: that God would be glorified in the midst of this tragedy.
Kids from the surrounding neighborhoods started walking by the park. We began to welcome kids of all ages. One boy left on his bike to invite some more friends. Before we knew it, kids were playing games throughout the park, making crafts, and listening to people on the team share about Jesus. At the conclusion of the camp, the kids had the opportunity to pray with us and with each other. It was an incredible scene.
As we left the park, I realized something. When each of those kids woke up that morning, they had no idea they would be joining us at the camp, where they would be able to have a safe place to have fun and to experience God’s love. Neither did we. But God did. And broken plans turned into a beautiful day!
I remember you sharing about this with us. Thank you for sharing that God plans for us to often have our plans interrupted.