Being a cross the "t" and dot the "i" kind of person; why should I be surprised when God shows up in a precise way. I often say and know that "God's got this" in all areas of my life, so why when He was exact down to the smallest detail recently do I feel compelled to share when at other times I fail too?
Because He made me smile! It was like He tapped me on the shoulder and said "you think you are obsessed with making sure things are perfectly accurate? No problem! Just watch Me work!"
It started last month. We have just started sponsorship in South Africa so we don't really have a budget yet. We can't do everything we want to do yet but God keeps providing. We received a donation of toothbrushes. Wonderful! We try to give kids a hygiene item or something they can use while also trying, in a fun way, to encourage them to attend the CarePoints regularly. So, we took the toothbrushes and decided to give them to the kids who hit the attendance goal of 12 times or more for the month of July. As we went to each of the sites and started counting the regular attenders, it seemed like we might run out. I heard the presumed count of the last site I thought, "That's okay God, if we run out, I got this. I'll just go buy a few more." At the last site, she had miscounted. We took the register and recounted and..you guessed it....we had the EXACT number of toothbrushes to hand out. I thanked God that He was good and had provided. I even shared His preciseness with a few other people.
I didn't think too much about it and didn't make a big deal about it. But then this last month, we had our first mission team to focus on South Africa! (We have had other teams from Swaziland that also came through South Africa to see what we are doing but this one was coming to serve with us here .) They were awesome! (See my previous blog.) They brought a massive amount of white socks to keep little feet warm and to use for a VBS project. We had a whole bunch left. Praise the Lord! We thought "socks can be the incentive for the August attendance". I looked at the registers and counted the kids before I went out to the sites this time. I would need 231 pairs of socks!!! It didn't look like there were that many left from the team. I started counting and making piles for each site. As I was finished the last pile....you guessed it again; I had the EXACT number needed! I recounted them as I put each CarePoints socks in a large bag (I told you I have that kind of personality) and I started laughing. I could swear God was saying, "Just in case you thought last month was a coincidence. I even know the hairs on your head and the stars in the sky. My preciseness is beyond what you can even keep up with!" Isn't God awesome!
These are pictures of the children at Sinethemba preschool getting their socks!
As you can tell I am enjoying taking lots of pictures these days.
Excited is an understatement!
I give God too little credit for the things He does everyday that I never even notice.
I hope He opens my eyes more and more to not coincidences, but His plan in action.
Added side note:
I started this blog last night but couldn't get the computer to work. Maybe it was so I could add about this morning's sermon on the book of Philemon. I think it might be the richest sermon I have ever heard. It made what seemed so ordinary, come to vivid life. But what stands out now that I am finishing this blog, was how Paul started the letter... "as a prisoner for the Lord". The preacher opening to the message shared that God so orchestrates our lives that sometimes, even when you are following His will, we end up in prison or in bad situations. Not because of the devil but because He has a greater plan. We so easily want to say that what is good is from God and what seems bad must be from the devil. But what seems bad, sometimes is ultimately, exactly where we are to be for a purpose that is beyond what we could ever imagine.
We missionaries see such poverty of the physical, emotional and the spiritual. We are aware of dreadful circumstances and often question where God is. But the socks were God's reminder, at least to me, that He does have a plan. He has not forgotten one of us; rich or poor, young or old, healthy or in pain. He does have our backs and He WILL cross all the "t"s and dot all the "i"s before it is all said and done. Even if we can't see it yet.
Go forward today knowing that if you are in a personal relationship with God and walk in obedience, He will use you to make a difference through whatever circumstances He brings you into.
And if you don't know Him personally, it isn't too late and it isn't too hard. He's there. Talk to Him (they call it prayer and it can be silent or aloud). Tell Him you want to know Him. Get a Bible and start reading the first four books of the New Testament to understand who Christ is and what He did for you. Find another Christian to study with or write me. Nothing is by chance.
Maybe the socks was all about you coming to know Him!
I know it definitely wasn't a coincidence!
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