Concourse C

I’ve felt all along God placed this specific trip in my path and honestly it was easy for me to say, “Yes! I’ll go!” whenthe opportunity came up at lunch one afternoon at McAlister’s. It’s been a dream of mine to do mission work with families in another country since I was just a little girl. I thought I knew as a young girl it was going to be Haiti. In my mind I was going to go to Haiti and work in an orphanage. It turns out 10+ years later my first international trip is to Durban, South Africa where I’ll be helping build, paint, and finalize the set up of a preschool. This is one of those times when I can finally see the bigger picture and know that God’s plan and timing are better than my own. I think back to prayers I’ve prayed and questions I’ve asked and frustrations I’ve aired about when the timing would be right…and now I know. 

I have so many examples of God’s hand and timing on all the details but the one moment that almost brought me to tears was the minute we stepped on the train in the Atlanta airport. We were navigating the busy terminal and making our way to Concourse E. As we got on the train Christine said. “If we get split up, we’re headed to Concourse E…E as in elephant. We can meet there.”  We all giggled and thought that was the perfect way to rememebr our gate since we would be seeing elephants at the Thula Thula Elephant Reserve. We continued on the train, grabbed the dirty, silver rails and held on as the train jerked to a start. An announcement was made that we were coming up on Concourse C. The recording said, “Our next stop is Concourse C. C as in Charlie. Christine and I locked eyes and smiled the biggest smiles. She looked at me and said, “You are exactly where you are supposed to be…”

All the things that had to happen and line up just perfectly for me to be on that train when they said Charlie’s name are proof in my opinion that God cares about me/us. He cares about what makes my heart happy. He wants me to know that I am seen and heard. That was his way of telling me his timing is always perfect and this trip is not a fluke. 

I have a feeling the reason I’m here is more for me than anyone I’ll meet or help by working at the school. I have a feeling I’m going to experience so many more moments like that too and I’m here to soak them all in! South Africa, here I come!