Sometimes God Has Other Plans

As I have gotten older I have made plans for myself, like where I am going to school, what I want to major in, and so on. But, there are times in my life where God has other plans. In my first post, I said that I was headed to Ethiopia this summer, well, that has changed, I will no longer be going to Ethiopia. I am instead, headed to Sierra Leone, Africa. To better explain the reasoning, here is a copy of the email that I received a few days ago....

Dear Britt,

We have had a late developing situation that has forced me to make some changes in our teams. I am sorry to inform you that due to a serious health issue with another mission trip leader, I have to reassign Holly Duke and Margaret Fischer. Unfortunately, this means that we are going to have to cancel the Ethiopia mission trip.

Reign Ministries is committed to providing the highest quality leadership. Therefore, we only allow Reign Ministries staff to lead teams. Normally I would replace Holly and Margaret with other leaders, but with the additional loss of the original leader, Matt Halseth, we simply do not have anyone with enough training to send to Ethiopia in their place.

Therefore, I am going to ask you to consider switching to another team. We have enough spots open on Sierra Leone if everyone would want to stay in Africa. However, we also have openings on the India, China, EuroQuest, and London mission trips, which are also amazing!

You will receive a call within the next day from either Holly or Margaret. They will answer any questions you have and discuss the team options that are open.

One last word of encouragement: I have led teams for 30 years. As a leader, I grow attached to an area, a people group, and the missionaries/churches I work with. In my career I have had to give up where I was working five times to fill in the leadership on another mission trip...and hardly ever to a location I wanted to go to! And even though my heart was set to work in a specific country (especially my switch from Romania to China) I wouldn't trade the experience. Those switch years were some of the best and most transformational in all my years of leadership. I learned two (among many) things:
Lesson 1 - God is not always so interested in where I go, but that I go.
Lesson 2 - Learning trust and faith comes at a cost. God showed me He wants me to trust and praise Him even when I don't get what I want.

I can't promise you how God will work in your life. But based on what I have experienced of the faithfulness of the Father, if you can trust and praise Him in the midst of change, I believe God will bless you beyond what can expect or believe.

Feel free to contact me directly if you have any questions or concerns.

Blessings,
Tom Ives
Director of Royal Servants
Reign Ministries

I was contacted by one of the team leaders the same day that I got this email and we talked and I told her that I would email her within the next 24 hours and I would let her know what I would do. So, I spent a large portion of Thursday evening in prayer. I emailed Margaret and I told her that I would like to switch to the Sierra Leone team. My heart is still in Africa and it always has been, for years, it has been for years.

Sometimes God closes one door to open a better one. He has a plan for me this summer and his plan was not for me to go to Ethiopia it was for me to go to Sierra Leone. Sometimes, God has other plans for us, we just have to listen to his calling and his voice.

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6