God's Plan?

I've been thinking about our time in Mwanza this past week (I had a little time on my hands as I trekked Kilimanjaro). We talked a lot about God's plan versus our own (with the container delay), but somehow I feel we are missing something. I think we need to acknowledge that there is a force that was at work against our plan...call it evil, Satan, the devil. We aren't comfortable talking about it (I know I'm not), but I do know it exists. In a country where one third of the people still believe in animism, sorcery and witchcraft, its existence and workings are overt.

I've come to believe that the container delay was not part of God's plan. I don't believe it was part of His plan to leave some of the most technical pieces of the project on the ground. Instead, I think of Romans 8:28, "And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose."

God certainly worked good out of the container delay. We were able to almost fully complete the isolation ward, making it fully usable as visiting surgical teams pass through. It changed our perspective from building a monument to being invested in the whole mission of the clinic. It changed the focus of our energy from accomplishing a task to building relationships with the local workers.

Certainly there are times when God's plan is far different from our own, and as Lindsay would say, we just need to get ourselves out of the way. But sometimes we need to acknowledge that not everything is part of God's plan. And in those cases, we need to trust and look for the ways He will work good. For one thing I do know from experience, God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good.

Blessings.