A new day

When I woke up this morning, this was my agenda for the day:

Get up in time to Skype with a friend from home
Eat breakfast quickly before morning prayer with the team
Go to the post office to send a package
Get dropped off at the children's home to teach for an hour
Leave early to be on time for a prayer meeting
Arrive at language class by 2 pm
Spend one-on-one time with a teammate
Relax and enjoy a nice team dinner…

For the second day in a row the Lord placed this verse on my heart…

    “Remember not the former things,
        nor consider the things of old.
    Behold, I am doing a new thing;
        now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
    I will make a way in the wilderness
        and rivers in the desert.
(Isaiah 43:18-19 ESV)

…and the prayer He placed in my heart was that I would be fully aware of the ways He was creating anew each day; that I wouldn't get so focused on my own routine and schedule that I lost sight of Who was creating and shaping each new day; that I wouldn't stare at my calendar so much that I didn't see Him making paths through wilderness and rivers through deserts.

So I really should not have been surprisedat how the day progressed. Can you take any guesses?

My tuk-tuk driver was 20 minutes late to pick me up
I waited in 3 different lines at the post office before I decided that the package I was sending was not worth the $30 it would take to send it
I walked out the door of the post office at the exact time I should have started teaching English at the school which was 20 minutes away
On the way to our prayer meeting, the tuk-tuk ran out of gas so we decided our time would be best spent by praying at our house instead of spending time and money to travel across the city and arrive quite late
A huge rain storm flooded the street with brown, nasty water half way up my legs

BUT these things happened to:

My Skype conversation was wonderful
I found an extra hour to study Khmer
I spent extra time hanging out with a few teammates I hadn't had time to talk with in awhile
A beautiful rain and thunderstorm cooled off the day
Dinner was delicious with great conversation

I was glad the Lord prepared me for this day! There could have been quite a bit of frustration had this all just been sprung on me. Constantly the Lord was checking my heart's posture throughout the day…Are you really trusting me to guide you through this day? Are you looking for me in what seems like chaos? And really in retrospect…I got so much done today and grew closer with many of my teammates as a result of all these mix-ups. The Lord knew what He was doing when He planned this day.

My prayer for tomorrow:

    “Remember not the former things,
        nor consider the things of old.
    Behold, I am doing a new thing;
        now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
    I will make a way in the wilderness
        and rivers in the desert.
(Isaiah 43:18-19 ESV)