My story actually started back in late February when God told me that I needed to go on a trip to Guatemala that I’d heard about at church. They'd been talking about missions at church and they had just announced the trip. Something in my heart stirred (read: the Holy Spirit) and I just knew I should go on the trip. That night, I e-mailed Alex Rodriguez saying I would come to the meeting to get more info. That was February 26th.
The meeting was supposed to be the next week, but was canceled because of snow (I think). Instead, Stacy (Alex’s wife) called me the afternoon of March 2nd to give me the info about the trip. She went over what we might be doing, who was probably going, and how much it would cost. After we talked, I told her I needed to talk to Ed (my husband) to make sure he was okay with me going. I also mentioned that I really felt like God wanted me to do this. Later that day, after a talk with Ed, I sent Stacy an e-mail confirming that I wanted to go ahead and commit to going on the trip.
That night I was still a little unsure though. I mean, it was a lot of money and Ed wasn’t sure where it would come from. I was worried that I’d misheard God and that He didn’t actually want me to go. That night in bed, I prayed, asking for God’s assurance and peace that he wanted me to go on this trip. He gave me both immediately. With that peace resting on my heart, I said, “Okay God. You want me to go, so I trust that you’ll provide the money.” It had happened in the past every other time I'd gone on a trip. God was always faithful to provide, so I knew He would be again this time. Still, I wasn’t prepared for what He did next.
The next day, a good friend and her husband called us and asked if they could borrow a backdrop kit of Ed’s for some photos she needed to take for a class. We said sure, so they made plans to come pick it up that night (I promise this has a point).
That evening, they stopped by while Ed was out. I got them the backdrop kit and we took some time to chat. Right before they were leaving, I mentioned that I had two questions for them. One had nothing to do with this trip and I don’t even remember what it was anymore. The other, I told them, was that I was getting ready to go to Guatemala in June on a mission trip. Before I’d even gotten the statement out completely, my friend started laughing. Confused, I asked her what was so funny. Instead of answering, she told me to just go on and ask my question. Still confused, I obliged.
I told them I was going on the trip and that it was expensive and that I needed to raise money. I mentioned that I was going to sell coffee (among doing other fundraisers), so if they wanted any or knew of anyone that wanted some, to let me know. Basically, I told them I was going to hit them up for a little support, if they could spare it. Key words here: a little.
By the time I was finished talking, both my friend and her husband were laughing again and I was frustrated and even more confused. I didn’t understand what was so funny. I asked them to tell me, so she looked at her husband and said, “You wanna tell her?” So he did.
It turns out that one of the things they do is regularly contribute to missionaries. It also turned out that the missionary that they had most recently been contributing to had met her funding goals. Because of this, they were looking for a new person to contribute to. In fact, just the previous night, they’d been praying asking for God to lead them to a new person they could help. And here I was, needing some help to pay for a trip to Guatemala.
At first, I thought this meant that they just wanted to help out a little bit, you know a few hundred dollars or something. Turned out, they had something a little different in mind.
They asked how much and when the trip was. I told them. The husband did a few quick calculations in his head head (he’s good with math) and then said, “Yeah, I think we can do that.”
Bug-eyed, I asked, “What?”
They then proceeded to tell me that they would send me a check every week until my trip was paid for. Since it was four months out at that point, that meant that they would be covering the whole cost (minus spending money). I was, understandably, speechless.
We got the final details worked out and they left, after giving me the first check. It was the most astounding thing I’d witnessed up to that point.
All I can say about it is that it was completely God. To have that happen in that way is something only God could have orchestrated, and I am forever grateful.
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