And we urge you,
beloved, to admonish the idlers, encourage the fainthearted, help
the weak, be patient with all of them. See that none of you
repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all. 16 Rejoice
always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in
all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
1 Thessalonians 5: 14-18
After I retired from my career, the missions
committee at church was calling me or should I say God was calling me to
missions. I had never been on a mission
trip so I decided to start big and travel with our church to Uruguay. It was a thirty-hour trip from New Orleans, to
Washington DC, Argentina and finally Uruguay.
We worked on restoring the oldest Methodist church in Uruguay. The people were wonderful and so
grateful. It became a much bigger
blessing for me than the people we served.
We traveled back to that church several years until the project was
complete and the congregation became very good friends with our group. They were to dedicate the new sanctuary the
Sunday we left for home.
We arrived into
the Miami airport an hour or two before the dedication service. Our flight back to New Orleans had been
cancelled and several of our team had to be home by Monday. We decided to just stop and have a prayer for
the church dedication that was happening at that moment. I felt a warmth go through my body. This was
the right thing! After our prayer one of our team went to the airlines desk and
pleaded her case about needing to get home.
As she was talking a pilot from another flight into Miami came over to
that counter and told us he and his crew had eight more hours left on their
schedules and they would take us to New Orleans. THIS WAS A GOD THING! We found out the next day that the
congregation in Uruguay had been praying for us at the same time that we had
prayed for them. God’s answered prayer!
Dear God, we know you answer prayers and we are so
thankful for your steadfast love for us. Thank you for your Son Jesus!
Amen
