Today’s Thumbprint is from Cami, a reader from Marrietta, GA.
Seeing God in the details has never been something I struggled with. I grew up in your typical Southern Baptist family- granddaughter of a preacher, daughter of a deacon, you know the drill. So, I learned as a kid to look for Him in the details. But, as I’ve grown older, that’s shifted for me. It’s not changed to the point that I don’t see Him in the details of life, but it’s shifted in that I struggle to trust that He’s actually concerned with MY details. I see Him in the details of life all the time.
One of my favorite stories of God being in the details of life happened while I was serving on a short term mission team in East Asia. I went with a team of about 8 people to a small college town. The term “small” is TOTALLY relative here- if you’re thinking Athens or Tuscaloosa, you gotta multiply that by a kadrillion. Because the university in this town has about 100,000 undergrad students. Right. Small. But, when it’s a country of a BILLION people, this is a small town.
When we arrived in East Asia, the team that was serving full time on the campus asked us to go find the freshman English majors on a new campus and do some of the initial legwork to establish a connection. The missionaries there often focus on that particular group for 2 reasons. One- they speak English better than everyone else, and two- they’re the youngest so they have the time for the most potential impact. This seemed like a totally reasonable request.
Only two small problems.
It’s a new campus.
Don’t know where the English building is.
Don’t know where the Freshman dorm is.
But, we were on a mission.
Before walking on campus, we spent time as a team praying that we would be able to make these connections. We knew the potential impact this could have on the ministry on that campus. We knew the potential life change that could come to the people on that campus. We knew that God wanted these people as His own. We had to find them.
So, we walk on campus.
Our plan was to start talking. We’re foreigners. The nationals don’t know that it’s weird to just randomly start talking to people. So, we plan to take advantage of our “alien” status and start asking questions, starting with “Do you speak English?”. Master plan. We know. But, we had nothing else.
We head out.
Out of 100,000 undergrad students, the first person we spoke to was a freshman English major.
Within 15 minutes, God had done His job and we knew where the freshman dorm and the English building were located.
But He wasn’t done.
By the end of 2 days, God had orchestrated over 100 spiritual conversations with students who wanted to learn more about Jesus.
And multiple East Asian students prayed to let Jesus into their lives.
Our goal was to locate and meet freshman English majors. We had 2 days to this.
God wanted the glory.
So, He blew our goal out of the water. He destroyed it. He took care of our goal in 15 minutes, so that He could get to His goals for the next 2 days.
At the end of the 2 days, we met with a full time mission team working on the campus. We told them about how God had worked and done exactly what HE wanted to do. They looked at us and our excitement about the bigness of God, and they were blown away by how He had worked beyond our wildest dreams. They now had the huge task of following up and discipling these students we had met. A huge task, but a joyous task.
When I look back on that experience and remember the awe I felt as I saw God work out the tiniest details, I remember that is who He is. It’s in His very character. Working in the details isn’t new for Him. It isn’t a one time thing or a “big event” thing. He’s concerned with the details. He created every star in the sky and every ant on the ground, so being concerned with details isn’t some innovative idea.
In East Asia I was looking for Him to work because I knew that we couldn’t do it without Him. I realize that my trust and dependence on Him while I was in East Asia dwarfs my trust in Him for my own day-to-day details. I often have to stop and remember that it’s His character that makes Him care about my details. It’s who He is. It’s the fact that He loves me and He created me that makes Him care about my details. He created my eyelashes, my long toes and my obnoxiously loud laugh. He thought about the details in creating me, so He remembers the details while He loves me.
I don’t always keep my eyes open to Him working in my details when I’m home. It’s easier to look for Him for the big things, like mission trips. But, God inhabits those details. So often I refuse to let Him be there. I use my own power and strength- and then act neglected because I didn’t see Him work. It’s in my own dependence on Him that my eyes are opened to see His influence on the smallest details of my life. Dependence draws me closer to Him, and it’s next to Him that I see His focus- not just on any details- but on my details.
God cherishes EVERY inch of our story..Cami your story was a wonderful inspiration today. Thank you for the courage to post part of your story!
Posted by: Heather Unverferth | May 14, 2009 at 09:39 AM