I have had my share of eye exams, but I can tell you for sure that this past Friday July 30, 2010 will be the most memorable ever......I was supposed to be leaving for Cuba on this day, or so we thought. Life is what happens while we make our plans!
So let me back up a week and catch you up. Saturday July 24th I received an email that was unbelievable, with all preparations just about complete, bags packed, All teaching printed and ready....the email said our Visa's were not yet signed, the Cuban Govt closed because of heat until Wednesday July 28th, and we needed the govt, immigration and the council of churches to all sign off before we could leave and we only had until 5pm Wednesday before we would have to cancel the flight and hotel to recoup some of the monies raised. We prayed, many fasted, and we knew only God could answer now, and we fell at his mercy and his will.....the days leading up to Wednesday were intensely prayerful, Wednesday was just intense in every sense of the word. As I walked into my training class in downtown Bethesda at 1:30I was awaiting the email that would tell our fate with much anticipation. At about 1:38 the email came and our hopes that were so close to becoming reality were come to an end, and I must confess I was devastated on many levels. It was all I could do to get through this class............God knew I needed to be in Bethesda and spend the next few hours with my best friend, Kim Sheffield. What a blessing it was to spend the time with her, and ponder the goodness and sovreignty of God with someone whom I have many times shared the highest highs and also the lowest lows. God was in it all, no doubt in my mind. It was home and to bed not really wanting to stay awake to this any longer today, Thursday proved to be one of those long days that never end before a 10 day vacation~~ I decided I needed to be off anyway and I would get some of my projects around home finished and make good use of the free time!
Christina and Sarah already had a plan for Christina to have her eyes examined at Washington Eye Specialists, in Providence hospital (where Sarah works) Since Christina would be having her eyes dialated I offered to drive and then had Sarah set up my eye exam, which I haven't followed up on in 2 years....it seemed to only make sense, I was going to be there anyway! Oh my I had no idea how set up it was.
We went in very early, and by 7:15 I was being taken back to the intake room where the technician would begin initial testing and eyedrops to finish off my tests. He was a nice man and after putting me in the room, he said he would be right back, when he came back he was shaking like a leaf on a tree, and I asked him if he was OK? He told me that his 19 year old son had just been rear-ended. Of course I asked if his son was alright and he said "yes I am just upset because he is far away and I cannot see him". I asked where he was and he said Miami. Out of the abundance of my own heart I said to him, "I was supposed to fly to Miami this afternoon and on to Cuba on a missions trip". He looked at me and said "I am from Cuba"(WOW)He then asked me if I had famiy there and again I said "no a missions trip with my church". He said "what city are you going to most people go to Havana or Santiago de Cuba", I said "No we were supposed to fly into Holguin and drive further down to Bayamo". At this point tears flowed down his face and he said to me "This is my city, my sister is there and is an Opthamologist,I will speak to her you must stay with her" I reiterated that we would not be going as my tears flowed down eyedrops and all, because our Visa's were not signed in time. He said "Yes this is the way of the Cuban govt" He then asked me what religion I was and I told him Baptist. He said "Good, because there are many false religion in Cuba" and he spoke of the National Church Voodoo, as he said "The religion of Fidel Castro, you can see little children in white sheets walking the streets, part of the black magic. He said I will pray that you can go to my people they need you to come. I was able to then tell him that it was not about any religion but a personal relationship with Jesus Christ that we enter into when we except his payment for our sin, on the cross and that it is the only way to be saved from our sin, he said yes this is what you must tell them when you go. We cried, we hugged, we stood amazed both of us, knowing this was way bigger than we were, we some how finished his part of the exam, but believe me my eyes were wide open now sight pretty clear that God had reached down in his Sovreignty and set this up. As I was about to go into the next room and wait for Dr Gafouri, Manuel said to me "I could have picked any chart this morning, I think God picked your chart for me"! What are the chances I have never met anyone from Bayamo in my life. And on this day that I was to meet the people of Bayamo, God brought Cuba right to me, and I was able to tell Manuel of Jesus unfailing love ina supernatural way that I could not set up at all. WOW, WOW, WOW!! And when I got home God illuminated these verses just to put the icing on the cake!
Ephesians 1:17-19~~ That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened, THAT YE MAY KNOW THE HOPE OF YOUR CALLING, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power~~
O how he displayed the exceeding greatness of his power to me today and hopefully it will be an emcouragement to a whole team of people, who along with me, had our hopes dashed and questioned for a moment whether or not to believe for this ever again. The eyes of my understanding being opened wide, I know the hope of my calling and know also one day my faith will become sight on this trip...in his perfect timing!! To God be the Glory Great things he hath done!
