Panama Part 1: At the Canal

It’s a scary thought to be dropped off in a different country where they don’t speak your language and you know no one. You hop off the plane with no plans and no ministry contact. Welcome to ATL (Ask the Lord)! 

ATL or Ask the Lord is when we are dropped off in a country and we are responsible for where we will stay, what we will do, purchasing our food, and everything else for the whole month. For our month of ATL, we were in Panama. The goal of ATL is to depend on the Lord for everything— To ask Him for guidance on where to go and what to do. When my team prayed into Panama we kept getting David, so we decided we would spend a few days in Panama City then head to David. 

While we were in Panama City, we decided to visit the Panama Canal on one of our Adventure Days. We asked the Lord to bring us people that we could talk to and wow, did He show up. While on the deck a women my age began conversing with me, her name was Louise. She lives in a post-God society, which means she is from a country that no longer views God as necessary and rejects Christian values that they once held. As we talked I began to see how the Lord had orchestrated everything for us to have this conversation. We started talking about life and our experiences. I told her about The Race and how God had been continuously showing up. Louise asked how I had faith even though I had seen very hard and sobering things while being out on the mission field. The Lord led me to share about the Bri Bri community (wrote about in blog called For Generations to Come) and the sexual abuse that was so common it was considered culture. I asked God, “how are you still good in this?” Children and women were suffering greatly. But God reminded me that He hadn’t left those people. He instilled it in the hearts of a group of people to help that community and build the Nest. I told her that God showed me that He is still good even in horrible situations. 

We continued to talk about faith, discussing how seeing all of these horrible things had shown me how my God is still faithful. He still shows up and He is faithful so why wouldn’t I be faithful to Him? It made me realize that my God is God and He is good. Louise told me she wanted to have a faith like that. I told her thankfully she can! I began to share the Gospel with her. I shared how Christ died and resurrected so she could have life and life abundantly. I saw God working through her heart, but in the end she said she wasn’t ready to accept Christ. It was such a heartbreaking moment. But thankfully, I know my God is not done and He is still radically pursuing her. It ended in a way that I really didn’t expect. She asked me to pray for her and her family to have that faith. It stunned me for a second. I had just watched the Lord work through this woman’s heart during our conversation and now she wanted for me to intercede for her. How amazing is God!?

The conversation made me realize that everyone is searching for something. For a higher purpose, a calling or to have something. God keeps showing me that all of creation longs for The Creator, whether we realize it or not. This women didn’t believe in God and yet she longed for a faith like mine. It made me earnestly pray for her to accept salvation. I prayed for God to provide the faith that she longed for but that it would be a faith that was firmly planted in Him.

The conversation made me realize that our God can use any moment or any place to share His mercy and grace. Our God is so faithful and showed up in powerful ways in this conversation. I pray that He continues to be glorified through it. Get ready for part 2 of Panama coming soon!