Only God Knows the Perfect Timing
It was January 15 of 2000 when a small aircraft crashed in the city of San José, Costa Rica, right on a two-story house; one of the residents was injured but 4 passengers and the pilot died that afternoon. I know these kind of tragedies happen every so often and everywhere; however, none had impacted me so much like this one because my sister in-law was supposed to be on that plane!
Just a couple of days before the accident she was asking God “why she had to be sick that week and miss a fantastic trip that had been planned months ago with some of her friends?” But now, with her friends severely injured and another friend and co-worker, the pilot, dead, the questions faded away. Lidia did not have the smallest doubt that the Lord spared her life and affirmed in her heart that He had a plan for her. There are so many reasons that evidently unveiled themselves during the last 25 years that have confirmed the fact that God wanted to use her for His purposes so far, and there’s still more in store for her.
Proverbs 16:9 says: “In their hearts humans plan their course,
but the Lord establishes their steps.”
I’m sure you can identify yourself with this concept, and so do I. It does not always involve a terrible and unfortunate event, but it always has to do with things that do not happen the way we wanted or thought they would.
Let me be a little bit more personal for the rest of this writing: when my family and I were getting ready for coming back to the mission field here in the U.S., we didn’t understand why our oldest son, Ari, was not able to come with us (his visa has been denied three times already). However, five years after that leap of faith we understand that God had a wonderful wife for him, and a more intense way to deal with our son that would lead him to surrender his life into ministry and to be a very effective instrument in His hands for reaching out to so many others who have come to Christ and are now being discipled by him and Carolyn there in Costa Rica. We are still praying for a visa approval for him, and I know many of you are praying with us for this matter. Only God knows the perfect timing.
Another “complication” may be the fact that we have not been granted our green cards yet; sometimes we think it’s taking forever! But we are convinced that the Lord’s plan is much better than our own plan. Of course, not being able to travel internationally restricts us from visiting our loved ones and participating in other ministries we’d like to be involved in abroad, but again: God knows the perfect timing for all these things.
God bringing us to Vancouver and, more specifically to our Evergreen part of the family, has shown us crystal-clear details of the Father’s plan for us: beautiful things are happening in the lives of our other two children, Ellie and Sammy; our marriage hasn’t been better than in the last few years in terms of ministry fruitfulness and home satisfaction at the same time. We are sure that this time in history is not a coincidence; it’s exactly what God has in His mind and heart for us! We are enjoying so much the spiritual growth that the Lord is producing in the lives of many individuals and families within our Spanish congregation, and also the blessings He is giving to all of us at Evergreen through our Leadership Team, the dynamics of our services and ministries as one church two languages and the cherry on the pie: the completion of Phase Two which our Heavenly Father has demonstrated so much generosity and loving care in every step of the way! Isn’t He wonderful? And yes, “He knows the perfect timing for each and every one of us and everything.”
Would you take a moment to pray with me at the distance right now?
- Let’s thank God for protecting Lidia 25 years ago.
- Let’s glorify the Lord for the Holy Spirit’s leadership throughout my family’s ministry journey.
- Let’s praise Him and magnify His Name for the evidence we see in our church that His hand is leading us, and His face is shining upon us while keeping us biblically healthy and progressively productive.
- Some of you know that in a few days my daughter Ellie and I are traveling to Florida for a family reunion in which I will get to see my dad who’s probably in his last stage of life due to his Parkinson’s, and I will have the honor to officiate my sisters’ wedding. Please, pray with us for God’s provision, wisdom and protection over us.
- And let’s keep on praying for the effectiveness of our church body so we can appreciate the kind and caring love of our Lord and Savior showing us in every moment of our lives that even though things don’t go the way we want, He really knows the perfect timing. Amen?
Shaped by His grace,
Pastor Joe