Back Story: To Learn Twice

I had a plane ticket to Indianapolis May 27th for my first travel assignment for Worldwide Challenge, but an hour before I was to head to the airport with Guy, the photographer, I got off the phone with my editor and went back to bed. I was horribly sick with the flu.

Despite my delirium, I made multiple phone calls to several of the women I’d planned to finally meet in person and assured them that we’d go forward with the story through phone interviews and that Guy would be there to photograph the story.

After talking with Marilyn over the phone over the course of several weeks, I was looking forward to finally meeting her face to face.

Naturally, I was frustrated that I was going to sleep through my first travel assignment.

I knew there was no way I should have gone, but I wondered why God would let me miss the trip.

Between hours of deep sleep, I prayed God would bless the two days while Guy was there and that the women would still be encouraged when they got together even though I wasn’t there to observe and interview them.

I imagined Guy there at the luncheon with female chatter and laughter filling the air.

Knowing God was ultimately in control, I wondered if the decreased pressure of having a reporter hanging around would increase candor and let the women be more relaxed in front of the photographer—that they might even forget that their getting together was for the story but that they’d just enjoy being together for the sake of being together.

Of course I can only guess God’s purposes, but one thing He showed me clearly—this and all the stories ahead of me are in His hands, and He’ll equip me to write them whether they go according to plans or not.