Upon reading today’s devotion, I chuckled. For you see, I just got back from a mission trip to Costa Rica. There was a team of twelve. This team was to do the following: work on a multi-purpose building for Project Abraham, teach an ESL class, participate in a young adult small group, and spend some time with the orphans. We had a plan. In my mind everything was laid out …no problem…let’s do some ministry, but the schedule of events didn’t go as planned. For some reason after the second day, the entire team got sick. I cannot say what was the cause, but every person was touched by this blight. Some people were down multiple days and one even had to go to the clinic.
We had a plan, and it didn’t work. I cannot speculate why God allowed this sickness, but I know He worked even through this sickness.
Ways I saw God work:
1. He humbled us. We were skilled and could handle the tasks at hand with our own abilities…add some sickness, we were definitely turning to God for strength.
2. He showed us how our brothers and sisters in Christ truly care for us. I was around when the Costa Rican project manager heard about our team being sick. This man stopped the conversation and immediately started a prayer meeting in Spanish for our team. What a blessing.
3. God unified our team. It was amazing to see how God brought us all closer through the sickness. People were cleaning up after other’s misfortunes. The morale stayed high and some were still able to work.
4. The Spiritual lives of the team were impacted. People were hitting God’s word daily, seeking God’s guidance through prayer, and meditating on His word.
I wonder if we hadn’t gotten sick, would we have pursued those “worldly results” that Blackaby talks about?
Jeff Carlisle
Missions Pastor
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