Currently I am on my way back to the village I live in, it’s a 6-hour drive from the capital. It’s raining and the sun is shining as my friend, and I make the familiar trip back home. I’ve been thinking about flexibility a lot lately. Maybe the sun shining brightly while it rains is a good picture of things not being what you’d expect but adapting to the conditions around you.
If you ever think, “man, I’m just so great at flexibility, I really think I’m flexible in whatever situation comes my way, that’s not really something I need to work on.” I would encourage you to pray and tell the Lord these thoughts. Then, when things seem to go crazy, embrace it and remember your comment (lol).
Before coming to the field, I thought I was pretty flexible. Sometimes in my children’s ministry a teacher wouldn’t come, plans would change, there would be significantly more or less children than planned for, or we would have to create a lesson randomly when asked to. In my nursing career things can get pretty hectic and you have to roll with things. I’m pretty flexible, right?
If you ever want to test your flexibility, come to Africa for a few years. š
Let me just give you a picture of two things that happened this weekend. Thursday I was taking a team of 9 college students to the Bible school to have a tour and visit then head back home. The following day we were all heading to the capital for various flights, so we needed to be back within 2-3 hours to finish packing and I needed to settle my house to be away for 6 weeks. While we were there, we started to tour a new dorm and it started raining, it was such a strong storm, we were stuck in that building for about an hour. This added to our tour time significantly. Then, due to the rain we weren’t able to see everything we wanted to. So, we decided to head back. About 5 minutes down the road our van broke down and wouldn’t restart. Thankfully our drive got it started within a few minutes, I got a call to run an errand for the team, so we stopped at a boutique, the van stalled again, the rain started up again. When I got back to the car the decision had been made to leave the van there, make several trips back home with the team and figure out the van later. After many trips and soaking wet from the rain, we all made it back. The following day as we began loading up the car for our travels, we found out the political situation in Senegal (my destination country for 6 weeks) was grave and I might need to postpone my travels. So began hours of uncertainty, would I fly or would I not? Would I be safe? Will the current missionaries living there be safe? If I fly there, would we be able to leave the house? Would it be safe to come get me from the airport? Finally, after arriving in the capital city, the decision was made to postpone my travels by one week and see what happens over the week. That meant I would not be flying out on Sunday and would be traveling back to Daloa Monday.
Typing things out and just reading over them when you’re not living in the moment doesn’t carry quite the weight that living it out does. But let me tell you, there was a lot going on.
But let me tell you, I had (have) so much peace. God is so faithful, over and over again, faithful.
Whether I stay in Cote d’Ivoire or whether I go to Senegal, I have entrusted my life and plans to Him, so I know He is in it. One of the students from the team made the comment, “wow, you’re so calm, I would be freaking out if all of my plans were being changed but I didn’t know what they were being changed to!” I responded with, “yes, but the Lord knows and there really isn’t anything I can do about it.” Then I shared with them how I thought I had a pretty good grasp on flexibility when I moved here and how I quickly learned I didn’t.
This reminds me of Jesus being with the disciples and walking to their boat in the storm. Peter was so willing to step out, and he did, but as soon as he looked at the storm, the waves, the wind, as soon as he let his circumstances worry him, he started to sink. I’ve given the Lord my yes and I’ve stepped out, but I want to learn from Peter and keep my eyes on Jesus in the midst of the wind, waves, and storm. I want to encourage you to do the same.
What do we gain by worrying, trying to figure it all out, or trying to control everything? Trust that He is faithful.
I would encourage you to sit and think about all of the things going on in your life right now. How is the Lord teaching you flexibility here? Read through Matthew 14:22-36 and ask Him to speak to your heart. He is with you, for you, and sees you.