As Christians, we love to share stories of God answering prayer.
Quite often, the stories show not only how God answered our
prayer but also how he exceeded our expectations. The real chal-
lenge seems to be seeing God’s hand at work when things do not
go as planned … or when it feels like God says “no.”
Before my wife, Michelle, and I moved to the east coast of
Taiwan, we regularly prayed about a couple of specific things in
regard to our new ministry assignment. The overarching themes
of these prayers revolved around housing and ministry.
At the same time we were planning to move, OMS Taiwan was in
the process of constructing a new building in Hualien City that con-
tained four apartments, offices, and guest rooms. We let the Lord
know that the easiest and most fiscally responsible plan for the fam-
ilies moving to Hualien would be for all of us to move directly into
our new apartments. This would save time because we wouldn’t
need to move twice and would save money since we wouldn’t need
to rent apartments. However, this was not God’s plan. By the time
we moved to the east coast, the ground had not yet been broken,
and our team was renting various apartments around town.
A Taiwanese pastor in Hualien City invited us to work with the
youth in his small church. Even though we maxed out with about
a dozen students, it was quite a diverse group with potential for
a lot of growth over time. After about six months, relationships
were starting to build, and opportunities for discipleship were tak-
ing shape. However, during this time, the church members met
and decided to not renew the pastor’s contract. As a result, with
the exception of continuing to meet with the pastor’s two oldest
children, ministry with the Hualien City church suddenly stopped,
and we were left wondering why God had called us to Hualien.
While all of this was happening, one of the other OMS Taiwan
families, who moved into a rented apartment across town, led their
neighbor to the Lord. This neighbor invited some Christian friends to
her baptism service. Our missionary coworker accepted an invita-
tion to preach at the small Gospel center near Dong Hwa University
for the baptism, which is about a 30-minute drive from Hualien.
Michelle and I joined our coworkers that morning, and after the
morning service, the person who runs the Gospel center invited
members from our team to preach once a month. Originally, we
agreed to share this responsibility; however, after a few months, I
started doing it every month. After a couple of months, we were
handed keys to the building and encouraged to use it for Bible study
and discipleship. As a result, over the past few years, we have been
able to invest in university students from all over the world.
Reflecting back on these events, Michelle and I have often
commented how grateful we are that God didn’t do what we ex-
pected or asked for. What we perceived as God saying no was
actually him saying yes to something even better.
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