God – Unexpected Plans

There is joy in discovering God’s unexpected plans. Awesome God – Amazing Week was a look at how He directed our steps (Proverbs 16:7) for the water purification system. This post is about the unmistakeable fact that God has appointed good works for us to accomplish. So let me show you part of our La Romana mission that we never expected!

Unexpected Plans

First, let’s verify an important fact of Christian living. We see it in Ephesians 2:10 –

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. 

So there is no question that good works have been appointed for us to do. Therefore, we should pray daily for the Lord to open our eyes to the works we know (by faith in His Word) He has planned for us. For me, that puts a sense of discovery in daily living. And this reality was on full display in La Romana.

One of the big pieces of my ministry puzzle is leading a mission organizaiton. That carries several responsibilities and they consume a good deal of time and energy. One of those is developing courses for pastor training. As I write this post, I am not working on the latest course – which we are planning to teach next month! Course development takes a LOT of time. But when it is finished we teach that course in every section of the EquipUs Pastor Training School. Part of my agenda for our time in La Romana was to get several more pages written.

But if you saw the previous post, you already know things weren’t going according to my plan for the week. I did have some time to study and write. And then we learned that Pastor Elias wanted us to accompany him on sone home visitis. My first thought was:

That will be a great thing for the other guys to do. While they do that, I’ll study and write. 

But the longer I entertained that plan, the more unsettled I became. And once again Ephesians 2:10 came to mind. I ditched my plan and got on board with God’s unexpected plan. Well, it was unexpected on our part. And that’s usually how it is. God’s plans may seem to us like interruptions. They aren’t!

Unexpected Plans – The Discovery

The images in the post were taken during our home visits. But I have to tell you the things you cannot see. We went to visit 6 people/families. And the good works appointed for us became clear in the first visit. The lady we saw was a widow. She knew pastor Elias but was not a member of his church. Even so, it was apparent the two were well acquainted.

We asked her how we could pray for her. She told us a few things but she really seemed uninterested. I can’t read minds, but I can read body language. I think her inner voice was saying something like: Yeah, yeah. I’ve heard all this before. Blah, blah, blah. But we did learn that she is a widow and we heard a few of her needs. So, I led the group in prayer. As I prayed, some other things came to mind. James 1:27 shows us the necessity of caring for widows and orphans. And did I mention God directs our steps? I just ‘happened’ to have a new supply of Dominican currency in my pocket.

The prayer was concluded but that wasn’t the end. I looked at her and told her I’d like to share something with her. She said, OK, and I told her that Christians are instructed to care for widows. And I think I said something based on I John 3:18 and James 2:16. We don’t love with talk but with deeds. In the wisdom of my home state of Texas: Put your money where your mouth is. As I finished sharing some of those thoughts with her, I handed her some money. And by the look on her face, I’m pretty sure very few people who called themselves Christians had done anything but talk to her.

That was the moment of discovering God’s unexpected plans. But that was just the beginning!

Unexpected Plans – Unexpected Blessings

We walked to the next visit. After the necessary greetings, our conversation was very similar to the first one. We were visiting another widow but this lady was a member of our host church. We prayed for her per the requests she made. Then I repeated most of my previous remarks about believers being obligated to care for widows. And once again, I took Dominican currency out of my pocket and put it in her hand. She was moved and very grateful. And there’s no way to say how humbling it is to realize your Father has put you right where He wants you to do exactly what He wants done!

ALL our visits were with widows. And by the third visit, I was out of pesos. After that I was handing them U.S. dollars and apologizing that they would have to go and get it changed. That’s just to let you know we were consistent. But there are some other details you need to see.

Two of the widows we saw had small children. One told us her husband had worked as a security guard. Thieves broke into the business and killed her husband as part of the robbery. The reason she shared that was one of her prayer requests. It had been necessary to borrow money to pay for her husband’s funeral. She was determined to pay it back but it was a predictable struggle. Then we learned: This past Sunday was the one-year anniversary of her husband’s murder. I had the same discussion with her as I did the others. Then I gave her the largest gift of the day.

But the unexpected blessings weren’t over. There was more to come!

Unexpected Plans – Future Ministry

This part is difficult to share without saying something I shouldn’t. So let me try it this way. After the visits, our team had a discussion about providing funds for pastor Elias to care for these widows. That’s part of Equipping For Life. We equip others for the work of the ministry. PART of that is teaching. Another part is setting a good example. And sometimes we actually put something in the pastors’ hands that helps them minister to others. That could be evangelism tools, laptops, pastor support or ministry funds.

After we wrapped up this day’s classes we had a private chat with Pastor Elias. We talked about our visits with the widows and the necessity of continuing to care for them in practical ways. As part of the conversation, he affirmed the need as well as his desire to see that happen. But their church just didn’t have funds for it. Everyone there is poor. Some are just poorer than others.

We gave several dollars to Pastor Elias. I told him that it was not necessary to tell anyone where he got the money. Then I charged him to use his best discretion and spend the money to care for these widows. That was another moving moment.

Summary

You may have figured this out already. But what do you think had been going on long before we arrived in La Romana? Answer: many prayers. Widows were praying to make ends meet, to pay funeral bills, to keep their kids in school and for strength to keep going. A pastor was praying for a way to care for people in his church and community. We got to be part of God’s answer. His good works were appointed beforehand for us to do. From our viewpoint, it looks like unexpected plans. And we got to reap unexpected blessings.

What are you praying for? Never doubt that He hears the hearts of His children. And don’t be surprised when His answers come in the most unbelievable ways!

Soli Deo Gloria! 

PS – Loving in Jesus’ name – and demonstrating His love with actions – can be very moving. I don’t claim to know all the ways. But I do know that a couple of the ladies we visited came to class that night!