Job 11:7 asks us, “Can you fathom the mysteries of God?” The answer, of course, is no. But we do know of the love God has for us, and we can trust that God will not waver on his promise that He will work all things for the good of those who love him. Job understood this especially well. Even through his insufferable trial, he knew that God was going to use his struggle to create good. And God worked that situation to bring about much greater things than Job could have planned for himself, just as he does with us.
During this trip, God showed me to trust Him even in the little things. Many times during that week, plans failed or we were inconvenienced by circumstances. Nothing that would ruin the trip, but activities that fell through or situations that refused to cooperate with our goals. And then God would show up and surprise me with an amazing plan that worked so much better than the original. The biggest example of this occurrence happened on Friday, the day of our mini Vacation Bible School at Mision Bautista Elim Church in Zone 21 of Guatemala City. That day our carefully-constructed plans were demolished. We had planned to meet the medical team, already at the church, in a timely fashion. When we arrived, the medical team would be finishing up and vacating the space so we could begin preparing for VBS. Our trip leader, who was at a meeting along with some of the church leaders, would meet us at the church shortly after we arrived to run the event. Recreation and crafts would meet outside with plenty of room for their games while Activities and Bible Lesson would meet inside in a quiet setting. The medical translators, along with our leader’s translator, when he returned, would all be available to translate. Nothing would go wrong.
But this is not quite what happened. Instead, we waited for an hour for the bus we forgot to call. The medical team had half of the day’s patients left to see when we arrived, so we could not start preparing. Then it began to rain, so we would be unable to use the outside area, which left us with a small, one-room building for an entire VBS. The recreation team had to change their plan to a sitting-down game. We found out that our leader’s contact never showed up to their meeting, and that the torrential downpour had her trapped in flash floods in the city, nowhere near the church, which left us without anyone prepared to lead large group. The medical team still needed their translators, which meant we had some high school students taking Spanish to translate for us. According to our plans, it was a disaster. But that was where God stepped in.
That day, the medical team was able to help twice as many people as they had expected to see, and many of us who watched were inspired by their work to pursue medical carreers. The teenagers had a fantastic opportunity to step up and lead the stations by themselves. Students were able to practice their Spanish in real life. The new recreation game fit the children at this church much better, as they were very calm and quiet. Everyone helped lead a part of large group. We reached the parents and medical patients as well as children because they were sitting in the same room, close enough to hear our lessons. Our trip leader had a wonderful meeting with just the church leaders about their vision for the future nd our part in it. The day went so much better than we could have planned, and God once again proved that year’s theme of VBS to us: that God works in Mysterious Ways.
