If you missed part 1 of this post you can read it here: Nicaragua Med-Fest Part 1
During Med-Fest Phillip was busy, as usual, running back and forth making sure everyone was busy and everything was running smoothly, but when the kids got sick (all running fairly high fevers) I found myself at a standstill. I began to ask God why the kids had to get sick (yet again) and wondered why it had to happen the day before Med-Fest began. I felt useless. I had travelled all that way to DO something for the Lord, after all. After being encouraged by my sweet husband and the doctor that was treating my kids, I decided that there was a reason behind it all.
And no, I wasn’t blaming it on the devil.
I spent a lot of time praying and reading my bible while my kids rested in bed in our hotel room. I told Phillip I didn’t feel like it was an attack of the enemy, but a lesson from God, I just needed to figure out what it was He was trying to teach me. Phillip and I spent some time going over the various reasons this may have happened and I cannot tell you enough how blessed I am to have a husband who cares so much about me and our family.
One thing Phillip said is that we can never fully know God’s perfect plan. Maybe God’s whole purpose for me was to minister to the girl we met on the way to eat one day (more on that later). Maybe God needed to reaffirm in my heart that my family and kids are my most important ministry. Or maybe God just needed to show me that sharing the Gospel does not always happen how we expect it to.
So the girls and I didn’t get to work a lot during Med-Fest. We didn’t verbally share the Gospel with a lot of people. We weren’t an intricate part of making the whole event happen. But we did do what God had for us. We smiled and talked (as best we could) with many women and children who came up to admire the baby. We laughed with Nicaraguan ladies who oohed and ahh-ed and made funny remarks about me not having a boy (except for the ones who thought Olivia was a boy). We did some puppets for the kids but mostly just hung around the kids, sharing my hand sanitizer (they spotted it on my bag and immediately wanted some) and taking pictures.
In the end, I had peace in my heart about what I had come there to do, and I left with a renewed passion for ministry and for the people of Nicaragua. Phillip and I are now dreaming and talking about living there for a few months (or maybe more) this summer and we are eagerly trying to learn Spanish.
I believe that we so often go into ministry with preconceived ideas of how it is supposed to happen and what we are supposed to do to be “good missionaries” but so often God’s ways lead us down a completely different path. Instead of planning our every move we need to be open to the leading of the Holy Spirit and allow God use us the way He wants.
Zinck Family Missions 