The foreknowledge of God is amazing. Several weeks ago I was looking at my calendar trying to find a day to go visit with a pastor a couple of hours away. A volunteer group is going to work with him in his area soon, and we needed to get "our ducks in a row." I wrote the visit in my calendar about 3 weeks before I was to go.
Because Mitzi has such a heart for the pastors' wives, she decided to go with me, so we made the trip planning to take the pastor and his wife out for dinner...nothing fancy, just a chance for them to have a treat. In reality, there's nothing even close to fancy in the area. We arrived about 4 o'clock in the afternoon and the wife was sitting outside under the shelter they use for services leading another young lady in a Bible study. The pastor was inside cleaning up their three year old daughter. As soon as we arrived he came out, and we began to visit.
Well, it seems God's timing was at work. Not too many days before, the wife had experienced a "meltdown." You see, their little house (two rooms,so humble) is just in front of the shelter they have built for the church to meet. When I say just in front, I'm talking maybe 10 feet in between the two. Now, first of all, this little wife is a city girl and they live in the campo...the country. They have no car. The only means of travel is by foot or bus, to which they have to walk almost mile.
The young pastor is a very loving, gregarious guy. He cares for his wife and little girl deeply. Problem is, he cares for everyone...and...like so many young husbands (and some not so young), he is sometimes insensitive to his wife's needs. It never occurred to him that a woman's house and "stuff" is special to her, and he thought nothing about inviting people into her kitchen to use cooking utensils, the blender, and anything else that might be needed. He also sometimes made plans that involved her participation without asking her first.
Add to that the instances when people just wandered into the house and children peered in the windows when she was dressing and...well...one day she lost it. She broke down, was crying and it was just too much. He was saying, "¿que hice? ¿que hice?" "What did I do?" Of course, she didn't blame him...well, not completely.
Anyway, for two hours they talked to us about how hard it was, how difficult the work is, how she feels she has no privacy...on and on. Mitzi comforted her with great understanding due to her 25 years as a pastor's wife. I tried to help him to understand how sensitive he should be to her needs and individuality. The point is, we showed up at exactly the right time, and, I believe, not by coincidence.
Finally after about two hours, I interrupted and asked if they would like to go eat with us. Carla said, "I was just wondering what I was going to cook for us to eat." We went about two miles down the road to a pizza place,the closest restaurant to them. They had never been there, and the little girl had never eaten pizza.
God's timing is good.
