You are a God of timing. A timing that I don’t always understand.
In this first week of ministry here in Nicaragua, so much it seems has already happened. I feel like for the first time I am beginning to understand both the simplicity and the complexity of who God is.
As I was reading my Bible the other day, God showed me the passage in Isaiah 60: 19-20 that reads, “No longer will you need the sun to shine by day, nor the moon to give its light by night, for the Lord your God will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. Your sun will never set; your moon will not go down. For the Lord will be your everlasting light. Your days of mourning will come to an end.”
When I first read this passage, I was encouraged and felt rejuvenated. It gave me motivation for what I thought I would be doing here in ministry. But then, God in his timing, revealed something miraculous to me a few nights ago.
My squad and I went to our first church service in a village we had visited in “Chillijapa” called Bethel (Pat-el). As we all piled out of the truck on Sunday night for our first service with them, we were all anxious to see what service would be like.
As service began, it was a lot of singing and dancing. You could feel the Holy Spirit moving in the hearts of the community there. I didn’t have to understand the language to see how God was stirring in their hearts. As service continued, two little girls from the village that I had met the other day, Heyling and Isela, came and sat with me. We laughed and tried to communicate as best we could with our obvious language barrier. Those two girls showed me more love than I knew possible at the time, since I had met only once before. But they were so persistent and tried so hard to teach me all the Spanish they knew, through pictures, poems, and songs.
Then suddenly, there was a shift in the presence of the room. One of the several pastors within Bethel’s community came to the stage and began preaching with passion and excitement. But with no more than five minutes into the sermon, he quickly fell to the ground. Everyone was in shock; people ran to the stage and began fanning him and trying to give him water, thinking that he must have been dehydrated because of the excessive heat. Members of the community carried him out and the whole congregation began to fervently pray for his healing.
About 20 minutes later, we were informed that he had died. The room was instantly full of grieving and pain. People began to come to the front of the room tears falling uncontrollably from their eyes and praising Jesus through their pain. Our squad did all that we could and began to walk up and comfort them with shoulder to lean on or a hug. I brought my two girls with me to the front and let them cry in my arms and kissed their foreheads praying that their healing would come fast.
Once we got home that night I opened my journal and realized that God gave me this passage in Isaiah for the village of Bethel as they go through the mourning process that they would seek God in their pain and that I would depend on God for his timing is perfect, even if we can’t see it.
Because the beautiful thing about all of this is that he left this world praising the Father and awoke in the kingdom of the Father praising Him.
The following song was playing on KLOVE while I read your blog. God’s timing, indeed!
“ONE THING REMAINS” by Kristian Stanfill
Your love never fails, never gives up
Never runs out on me
Higher than the mountains that I face
Stronger than the power of the grave
Constant in the trial and the change
One thing remains
On and on and on and on it goes
It overwhelms and satisfies my soul
And I never, ever, have to be afraid
One thing remains
Your love never fails, never gives up
Never runs out on me
In death, in life
I’m confident and covered by the power of Your great love
My debt is paid
There’s nothing that can separate my heart from Your great love
I am weeping as I read this, confident of God’s reason for you to all be there. God gave you such a gift in that verse. His Timing is Perfect. His Grace is Sufficient. His Promise is Forever. His Love is Everlasting. Beautiful! I love you Princess!
Hello sweet Sam,
Wow. Wasn’t expecting that one! I am thrilled that you are seeing — so up close and personal — the RICHES of God’s incredible Word.
I would challenge you to write in the margin of your Bible by those verses, the date and where you were when these verse had this impact on you and in years to come it will blow you away as you look at your Bible full of underlined and dated sections — it will help when you wonder where God is or what He’s up to because you can just take a glimpse into your Bible and you’ll see His movement in your life. All it will take is that simple reminder of the date and the place and you will be transported right back to that particular moment when you saw God in action.
Love you and praying for you!
Samantha,
What a tragic yet glorious event to witness. God was so good to prepare you for this and give you illumination.
May your love continue to abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight.
Wow. All I can say is wow. Your mother and I always knew God has special plans for you Sam. The love, compassion, faith and insight you have will no doubt be fully tested, grown, and stretched. I am so blessed to be part of your life, to experience God’s work through you. Thank you Sam, my prayers are with you always and I anxiously await your next update of the work done for our Lord’s kingdom. Love you, Tracy & Al
…..And the gift goes on…the Father to the Son, the Son to the Spirit and unto all who call Him by name Abba Father! Papa (Referring to my fav book, THE SHACK) and Heavenly Father…teh gift goes on… From an acquaintance, to a friend who became my sister in law, to her daughter…and the gift goes on….
God’s timing is impeccable! We are stifled, disappointed, anxious, upset and often angry when a door is shut on the path we think we should be headed down. And then the right door opens and He reveals to you the glory of His grace, the plan He has for you and the blessings yet to come. Ive learned to thank Him for all the shut doors too! The trials and sidetracked alleys, become His stories; the Glory goes to Him, and the Praises exult Him. Romans 8:28 IS MY #2 bestestess scripture!
With so many things going on there from volcanos, earthquakes, and the sadness of the pastor, Jesus is touching you deeper; your receiving His word more clearly, and hearing His word is like stringing diamonds of wisdom and insight from His heart to yours.
He told us to GO……Well you GO GIRL! i know you have a bit of my spirit in you! All those years I begged for a time for you guys to join me in Africa! And look where your going and have been! (You’re young and you’ll probably beat the amount of counties Ive been too!)
Love them all up Sammy…..and so freely…..the greatest part of it all is thinking that you’re giving such much needed love and help to these peoples but truly, it’s YOU that is GETTING THE GIFT!! ! Fill your heart full my cupcake!
I love ya! Aunt Nancy
How amazing…God doesn’t waste any time does He?! He prepared you before you even knew why-His timing is perfect. I will continue to pray for you and your team as you continue to minister to the children and adults you meet during your journey around the world, touching those you meet with God’s amazing love.
Chillijapa? Nice 🙂 Love hearing you share your heart on this Sam! Really proud of how the Lord has been using you and speaking to you about so much!