He’s always up to something

Whether we have eyes to see it or not, God is always up to something.

Almost two months ago I went out of the country for the first time in my life. I spent exactly one month living in the Dominican Republic. I had no idea what to expect. I knew no one there and I went totally alone.

God was up to something when He sent me to the Dominican Republic. Through a program at my university I had earned a free plane ticket to a Spanish-speaking country. Because I had enough credits to graduate early, I found myself senior year with an open Winter Term and I decided it was the perfect opportunity to go abroad.

With my own wits (my own wits are so, so terrible by the way) I decided I didn’t want to go abroad with a Christian organization. I’d do something secular, something nonprofit, because I thought it would challenge me more. With that mindset, I began pouring into research. What country would I choose? What nonprofit would I pick? How would I work out logistics? 

At one point I was absolutely sold on Peru. I was actually 90% convinced that I was going to volunteer at this place in Peru that would have involved me landing in Lima, taking an overnight bus (alone) for 7 hours, and then hoping in a taxi to get where I was going. Hours and hours of research, and huge lists on my laptop and that is what I came up with. I laugh about it now, but on my own doing that is what my trip almost looked like. 

But God is always up to something better than what we are up to for ourselves.

One day last September I ran into a former boss. To be honest, it took me a few minutes to recall his name. He was at a distance and I almost didn’t approach him. But something made me stand up. His name was on my tongue and all of a sudden we were chatting. It was in that conversation he dropped a single line about a friend he knows who works in the Dominican Republic at a place called Doulos Discovery School.

Turns out, God’s wits are a lot better than my own. I didn’t even reach out to Doulos until months later. But when I did, everything fell into place effortlessly. The best possible way I can describe my trip abroad to the DR is this: it’s like Someone went online shopping and said, “I’m going to pick out the perfect things for a trip-abroad-for-Katy-Steele and I’m going to put them in a basket and give them to her as a gift.”

Every detail of my month in the DR was like a handpicked detail from the Lord placed into my lap with a bow on it. Every moment—the ones I spent laughing with little Alejandro, or getting lost in the city with my sweet friend Hannah, or shelling beans on the balcony with Minerva as she shared her testimony with me—and the ones when the shower only spat out cold water, and I fainted from malaria medicine, and when I sat in an airport for 30 hours—every moment was perfectly planned. Every moment had perfect purpose.

One of those moments was when the Lord had a lovely woman named Annie, who I didn’t know, sit next to me at lunch one day and end up sharing that her daughter runs a jewelry company in Haiti, and her Ambassador program offers a way for missionaries to sell the jewelry pieces for fundraising.

One of those moments was when I was delayed in JFK for 16 of those 30 hours and I met a sweet missionary woman named Karen who was so encouraging and bought me vanilla fro yo in the airport. 

When I left for the DR I had applied for the World Race, but I had not taken the final plunge; I was looking over the edge still afraid to jump. It was on this trip that for the first week I wrestled with the Lord, “God, could I really do something like this for an entire year?” It was in the DR that I had my World Race interview.

 It was in the DR that I remember specifically praying, “But how can you use me? I am so weak.”

And His soft reply came.

That’s not your job. your job is to be obedient.

It was in the DR that I got the phone call and the voice on the other end of the line said, “Katy, … you’re going on the Race!” And it was in the DR that all of my doubts, fears, and apprehensions fell off of me like shedding old skin.

It was in the DR that a visiting pastor one day asked us the question, “What is the Lord up to in your life?”

How funny is it all, really? The bigger picture. That God would gift me with this trip to the DR as a preface of more to come. That he would surround me by missionaries; by people who fundraise for a living. That He would let me experience dealing with sickness and physical pain while out of my comfort zone. That my first big fundraising venture now is selling the jewelry from Annie’s daughter’s Ambassador program. That my friend Karen from the airport would become the first person to say she wants to support me monthly on the Race.

God is writing a bigger story in our world and it’s all about Jesus. I pray that I don’t miss the details. That I would continue to ask the question, “God, what are you up to?” Because He loves us. He loves you. And He is always up to something.

Friends, this journey has been amazing, and it’s barely even started! Thank you to every single person who just read this blog (and thanks especially if you read this incredibly long one!) A few times now I have had someone totally out of the blue say that it’s on their heart to support me financially on this journey, and I am completely in awe and so, so humbled by your graciousness. There is a link to my support page on my blog if you feel led to help too!

Please come along this adventure with me by hitting “Subscribe” for updates on the left sidebar of this blog! And as little Alejandro would say, “Muchas, muchas gracias!”

“As for God, his way is perfect” (Psalm 18:30).