Have you ever wondered why sometimes something you think is God’s best does not take place? I have, on occassion.
Here’s the biggest example I have ever experienced. In 1980, my mother planned on taking my two sisters and me to the Moscow Olympics, because of my oldest sister’s attempts to get to the Olympics. Because of the Soviet invasion, our country boycotted those Games.
Ok, second choice was wanting to be part of the solution by going to the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan to assist with the refugees. But both a missionary friend and the UN High Commission for refugees.
So, I took my third choice: Director of Summer Evangelism for the Emmanuel Gospel Center in Boston. I coordinated and trained 24 churches for six weeks of outreach.
By God’s grace, I led to the Lord a 12 year old during one of those meetings. Months later I learned that her sister and mom (sitting across the street from the basketball court where the speakers were) had also received Christ and been baptized at Dorchester Baptist Church. That night I also made the call over the objections of one of the workers to have the meeting despite thunderstorms on the radar coming from the west. (The worker later apologized.)
One final note. When I returned to the main campus of my graduate school, someone asked me to go to Pakistan to set up a trip for other students. So I flew there in January of 1981 to make preparations for the FIVE students who would go the following summer. So God multiplied me five-fold on my second become first choice through my obedience to God’s first choice!