One of the lessons I've learned through ministry is that when you're open to the Word and call of the Lord, things don't always go the way you expect them to. And thank goodness they don't! For the plans of the Lord are always so much sweeter. There was one time my partners and I brought a group of students on their first mission trip. One of the days we were scheduled to work with a Somali tutoring program in the inner-city of Minneapolis, but when those plans fell through we decided to do a prayer walk in South Minneapolis. Little did we know that God was just intervening and revealing his plan for us.
We decided to enter the park and pray for all the children who had previously or would in the future be playing on the equipment - while playing on it ourselves! It was through this spontaneous prayer walk and on the playground that many of the students had their first opportunity to reach out and talk to people about their faith, offer a listening ear and heartfelt prayer to people they've never met. It was a powerful experience, and in the end quite a number of them said this was their favorite part of the week.
In the end, I loved having this opportunity to bond with the students and show them that prayer can be joyful, spontaneous and informal - finding a child-like joy in the grace and goodness of our Father. It was truly a unique and memorable mission experience, even though it was nothing like what we had set out to do that day.
Praise the Lord for His goodness. Praise the Lord for the ways he brings about goodness and fruit from unideal and unexpected situations.