I used to think that the Lord didn’t care about the ‘little’ things in
life. You know, those tiny details that sometimes escape our everyday
notice. Or the things that we somehow get in our head that is for us to take
care of. That they don’t really matter to the Creator of the universe. Maybe
you’ve felt the same at some point in your life.
God revealed to me how much He really does care about those little
things back in 2007. I was working on our base here in Zambia during hot season
at a time when I was the only American on the base. It was probably the hardest
3 months of my life, but a time where I grew the most in the Lord.
I was working on our trucks, of which all broke down at the same time,
leaving me as the only mechanic on base. Don’t laugh. ;-) It had been boiling
hot for months, I had no clue how to fix the truck (big surprise) and was just
absolutely grumpy. Flinging down the tools, I stalked from the warehouse to my
tent. In the midst of my toddler-like temper tantrum, God spoke to me. He said
“My daughter, what can I do today to make you smile?” His voice was so clear to
me that I even looked around to see who was talking. Not seeing a single
person, I almost decided that the heat was finally getting to me. However,
stepping out in faith, I answered. “Lord, a huge rainstorm would make me smile.
I want a break from this heat.” The Lord answered me and told me that it would
rain. I was ecstatic! Immediately I thought that I needed to let our workers
know in case we needed to move any equipment. However, I looked in the sky and
only saw blue. I check the horizons and there wasn’t even a wisp of a cloud.
Thinking that maybe it had been my own imagination, I walked into my
tent to change out of my oil soaked clothes.
Not 5 minutes later, I emerged from my tent at the sound of a crack of
thunder. There over our base was a large, dark cloud. The heavens opened and
rain poured down on the base! I knew two things from that moment: Never
doubt the voice of the Lord and that the Lord cares about even the small things
in our lives. He enjoys making us smile.
One of my ministry leaders in Mahalulu experienced this same
revelation the other week. Zambia has been in a drought and most of the streams
that usually still have water have run dry. Crispen had planted carrot and
onion seedlings, believing the Lord that his water source wouldn’t run dry. By
the time the plants were large enough to transplant, the stream was completely
dry. He told me that one would have to dig deep into the sand to get to any
water. Deciding to shift his garden to a new water source, he concentrated on
his onions, leaving the carrots behind until he could prepare the beds for
them. A week or so later, the new garden was prepared and the onions were planted.
When Crsipen went back for his carrots, he found his dried up stream filled
with water. Not just a small amount, the stream was actually flowing with
water! There hadn’t been a drop of rain that could have made this possible,
only the Lord. Everyone has been looking for ways to survive this drought year
and help solve the ‘water issue.’ We sometimes forget that God also has a
plan because He cares that Crispen didn’t have water for his plants. It may
seem like small to some but I saw the same smile on Crispen’s face as he shared
this testimony that was on my own face when the rain poured down outside of my
tent.
