When God Stops You In Your Tracks

Here is the second "lost post"!  It's so encouraging to review the things God has done, remembering His greatness.  He is good!

He did it again!  Two weeks in a row, God messed up our little plans.  Last week, I went with my husband.  We stopped at our friend's house, and my husband went on to visit the gentleman who had received Christ the week before, and another contact he had made.  When he had only driven down the street, the van started to stall.  Now one thing you do not want to happen if you can prevent it at all, is to be stuck in traffic in Mexico City with a broken down car.  Our van is pretty reliable, and this was highly unusual.  He returned to the house and we all looked at each other thinking, "Now what are we gonna do?"  We asked the family we were with if they had any nearby friends or family we could talk too.

After a few moments consideration, the wife told us she knew her sister had a friend she had been witnessing to, so she called her sister, who lived just around the corner.  Five minutes later, the sister and a couple from her block showed up at the door.  When asked what they came for, they responded frankly, "We came to find out about salvation!"   Soon they, too, were asking God to save them from their sins. The husband had been struggling with a weak heart.  He had suffered several heart attacks, undergone open-heart surgery more than once, and wanted to know how to make peace with God.  He was so happy after receiving Christ!

Oh, by the way, the van?  Started right up and drove us home afterwards with no problems at all!  Ryan said he expects the vehicle he's using to fail every time he goes to do something for the Lord, and all he has to do is wait around for God to bring one of His lost sheep.

We are supposed to go to the mountains, highways and byways looking for sheep, but we should never be blind to God throwing a wrench in our plans so that we can find one of those sheep in the middle of a problem.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

When God Messes Up Your Plans

 I went back looking over the old posts on my blog, and I found a couple that I never posted.  It seems a good time to update them and give them a go.  These two things happened back to back, while we were preparing to come to this area, looking for a house.  We found the change of plans were not hindrances at all, but God intervening in the lives of people who urgently needed Him.  While we tried to follow up on both of these people, we could not, but we know they have found salvation through God's work in our lives.

What's going to happen tomorrow?  As a woman, I like to have these things laid out before me as clearly as possible, and as a child of God, I usually don't get what I want!  In fact, God has a tenancy to scramble our plans.  Every. Single. Time.

What do we do?  Just keep looking for ways to serve!  When something comes your way, you can say it was God's plan, not yours.

We are starting to head out to Mexico City, in the area of Xochimilco, (pronounce that SO-chee-MIL-co) to look for a new area to start a church.    Two weeks ago, Ryan headed out with a friend who grew up near this area, and started toward the new area.  That's when God changed the plans.  The brakes failed.  After making it safely off the road, our friend went to get the part he needed to replace and everyone else waited with the car.

Before long a tired-looking man came walking along with several bags on one arm, and a tired looking toddler on the other.  He said, "I'd like to sell you some cookies.  We were in a car accident, and my wife and two of our children were killed.  Will you buy some cookies?"  They bought some cookies, and he turned to go. One of the group attempted to offer some words of solace, telling him that God had a plan for his life. He stopped, and said, "I've been praying and asking Him to show me His plan!  It's been so hard, I just want to know Him." My husband asked him if he would like to know what the Bible has to say about eternal life, and he eagerly assented.  Soon, he was sincerely asking for the forgiveness of his sins.   His name is Christian, and he has a mountain of challenges ahead of him.  He told Ryan that he had been fighting depression, lost his job, and was looking for God through his pain.  He has also walked ten miles that day, out of his usual course.  My husband told him that he wasn't the only one whose plans changed that day.  God receives the glory for this salvation!

  Ryan wanted to buy more cookies, and he tried to give them as a gift, because he was so thankful for being given the gospel.

God is in control.  If we are obedient to His will, He might change our plans, but we need to let Him work through the change.