Has God ever impressed on you to do a big project for Him, and you worked hard on it for years—and yet it seemed like nothing was happening, and God was a million miles away?
That’s where I’ve been lately with a huge dream God placed on my heart. Some good things have happened, but the big provisions from Him haven’t arrived yet. I’ll be honest, I’ve been a bit discouraged.
Then during my devotions recently, I read a verse in Isaiah 7:11, “Ask a sign for yourself from the Lord your God.” Those words glared from the page at me. So I prayed, “God, I’m weary on this journey you have me on. Could you send me a sign—a word—that You’re still in charge of what You’ve asked me to do, that You’ve got it under control?”
I prayed that prayer for several weeks, and then one morning this week, the answer arrived in a way I’d never have expected…
Back in 2005, my husband and I took a group from our church on a mission trip to Costa Rica. It was a life-changing trip for all of us. Paul and I had gone hoping to be a blessing to the Costa Rican people and to our missionary friends—but we were the ones who were blessed beyond words.
One of the highlights of our trip was meeting Fernando Herrera Gomez. He’d been such an encouragement to our missionary friends, and he traveled with us that week as we visited orphanages and nursing homes, worked on building projects, and went sightseeing. Our whole group loved Fernando. He’s a gifted man, fun, and he has a huge heart for God.
We’ve stayed in touch over the years, but it had been months since we’d last talked. Then I received the message from him on Facebook this week that made me cry.
It read, “Good morning, dear sister. I’ve been praying for you during this week. This is kinda weird but for some reason I’ve been feeling you have to make decisions, and God has told me He has the control, and He is with you. Love you, dear friend. Have a wonderful and blessed day.”
I literally had goosebumps.
At the moment I received that message, I was trying to decide whether or not to squeeze a few days of a film conference into an already packed trip. I was making decisions about which publishers I needed to make appointments with at the publishing convention I’ll attend. Both decisions were tied to this big dream God’s placed on my heart, the one I’d been discouraged about.
READ MORE: WHEN PRAYERS GET ANSWERED
Fernando didn’t have a clue what I’d been praying. He didn’t know I’d been asking for God’s reassurance that He was in control of my project, but God used him to send the word of encouragement that I needed—from a country more than 1,700 miles away.
Thank you, God (and Fernando). Message delivered, right on time.
