Does God Know What We Need, Before We Need It?

Becca is a senior in High School this year. That makes her eligible to go on the "Senior Trip". This is an annual event where the senior class at Alliance Academy skips school for a week to go to the beach. Don't worry.... it's a school sponsored event and a tradition that all seniors look forward to.

The seniors were to leave on Thurs at 1:00 p.m. Becca was pretty excited about the trip, but as she began to pack on Wed night, she had trouble finding all of the pieces to her beach wear. She searched high and low Wed. night. The later it got, the more frustrated she became. She finally decided to call it a night, and Ruth offered to help her do a more thorough search in the morning.

I came to work the next morning. Ruth and Becca commenced the search, but they were having little success. By 10:00 a.m. they had still not found the missing piece even though they had been praying all morning that God would help them find it.

Just about that time, one of my Ecuadorian colleagues walked up to me, out of the blue, and handed me a bag saying, "You left this in Papallacta last month when you spent the night there." Indeed, we had been in Papallacta to celebrate Becca's birthday along with many of her friends. There are hot pools nearby so swim wear is a "must have" for a trip to Papallacta.

As I opened the bag, you guessed it, I found the missing article of clothing. I was amazed! I quickly called Becca and Ruth to confirm that it was indeed the missing piece they had been searching for. We were all excited to see how the Lord had answered their prayers and rejoiced together. Two hours later, they picked it up on their way to the airport.

But wait... This was not just another story about losing a coin in our house and rejoicing because it was found again. (Luke 15: 8 - 10) This is really a story about God knowing what we needed before we knew we needed it! You see, the really amazing thing about this story is that this little article of clothing had to be "en route" to us even before we started praying for it. In fact, it had to leave Papallacta before Becca even started packing on Wed night. Indeed, it most likely started its journey days before we even knew it was missing.

Now you might think, "well, you were just lucky", or "sometimes things just work out that way". But this is not the first time we have seen this happen. It has happened time and time again, especially in the last two years. It makes me remember that I have a very short field of view with regards to my future. But I have a God that sees the future clearly and orders the events of our lives in order to give us His good gifts.

Was this a faith shaking experience? No. Would we have lost our faith in God had we not found it? No. But if God wants to give us even little gifts like finding a swimming suite so we can enjoy a senior trip, then I know that He is also watching out for me when I go through the really tough times in life, and THAT is really encouraging.

Doug