- Last Friday - dear friends from college visited with their beautiful 7 month old daughter. What should have taken them 4 hours ended up being around 6 hours due to the torrential downpour and lightning.
- This past week - throughout Grace retreat, J suffered with a recurring fever and then a rash that broke out over his body upon our return home.
- This past Friday - somehow I missed the news that a storm was coming, so it took me by surprise. Thousands without power in the DMV area alone, including my sister's neighborhood. As of tonight, the power still hasn't returned in her neighborhood. This also affected J's best friend's first birthday party, as they scrambled to find a new venue at the last moment due to power outages.
- Today - the Mexico mission team left for the airport as planned, in the wee hours of the morning. However, every flight to Houston was delayed, causing them to miss their connecting flights into Mexico.
For each of these situations, my first gut reaction is to despair, to worry, to panic.
Yet I'm learning (s l o w l y) that God is sovereign. He reigns over every situation - both the good and the bad, both the convenient and the inconvenient.
In each of these situations, there was no reason, ultimately, to despair. My friends arrived safely through the storm, J recovered completely within the week, the birthday party was relocated to an even better location, and I believe God is redeeming the traveling situation that the team is encountering.
I received a call from Mr. A during this morning's Sunday service, saying that there were no more available flights to Mexico for 1/3 of their team until Wednesday. (Bear in mind that this is a 9 day mission trip!) He was looking for any alternative and asked me to research the driving distance between Chiapas, Mexico and the airports in Belize and Guatemala. We really didn't know what to do or what was going to happen.
During the service however, we read a verse in 1 Corinthians and my eyes wandered over to 1 Corinthians 15:57-58. It was so encouraging that I immediately texted it to Mr. A. It says:
But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
After service, I was driving and began to pray that God would redeem the situation - knowing that God could very well turn their traveling mishaps into a mission trip itself. I remembered their prayer topic - that they would be have victory wherever they go and in every situation, with every person they encounter.
Later, Mr. A emailed and shared that he had had the opportunity to pray for the lady who managed to get them tickets to Mexico City (while everyone else was telling them they should just return to Maryland). She started crying and told him how customers usually treat her poorly when these issues arise, but to have someone pray for her was a blessing. When I later talked on the phone with Mr. A, I told him how encouraging it was to hear about her, and he told me that he had been thinking about victory before praying for her, and then received my text and shared the verse with her when he prayed for her. The lady's name? Victoria.
I believe this is just the beginning!
Through all of this, I am realizing how honored God is when we choose to praise Him in our inconveniences...to thank Him, even for the storms. It is a declaration that we recognize that He is way bigger than any problem that we might face or any glitch that may arise.
Thank You, Jesus, for teaching me with such patience and gentleness. I believe and claim victory for our mission team, even as they are en route to Mexico... in whatever situation they are in, You are able to and so willing to work in amazing ways that cause every eye to turn to You. I choose to trust. I choose to praise!
