God's better plan (2001-10-15)

God has better plans for us than we can imagine. "God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect." (Hebrew 11:40)

One day a couple months ago, an ESL teacher showed up in the female unit in FDC and all four of the Chinese women were not there any more. The class was cancelled on the spot. We did not even have a chance to say good bye. One of them was actually a baptism candidate for the following week. Where did they go? Such is life in FDC, unpredictable and uncertain. We prayed that God, who holds tomorrow, can take good care of them.

Later, we were told that they have been transferred to another center in INS. Immediately, we felt a sense of relief because another group of brothers and sisters, headed by Jonathan and sherry, are doing lots of caring work there. The women are in good hands. In fact, the baptism candidate was able to complete this important landmark of her spiritual journey there.

Oh, we miss them so much. Could we visit them? Usually FDC volunteers cannot visit the inmates after they left FDC, but the Chaplain told us that we could in this case because it is another institute. Amen!

Walking into another detention institution brought up memory of my first time at FDC over a year ago. These men and women are so young. Some are barely 20. They risked their lives to enter America illegally to try to seek a better life and freedom; and they end up being put away for months and years. Oh Lord, please do take good care of them.

In FDC, we meet with the inmates in a recreation room where we can sing, worship, teach, and interact quite freely. However, it is not the case in the visiting room in INS. It is just like you'd expect in a movie: a glass window that separates the visitor and the inmate. We talk strenuously through these small little slits in the middle of the window. The heavy accents in our individual Chinese dialects seem to be weighed down with loads of lead. I also have a hard time because I cannot read lips and body language like the other team members. Lord, you brought us here. Please do show us your way.

God's answer is simple, very simple. It was just that we were not smart enough to know God's plan. One day after a visit, it suddenly donned on us that the inmates were more open to sharing with us about their struggle. Why? One window, one troubled soul, one caring listener and one loving God. We had prayed for a whole year for more effectively one-on-one caring work, which was difficult in the group setting in FDC, and here God handed this  golden opportunity to us.

OK. They cannot hear us clearly. Brother Roger wrote Psalm 23 in big characters and lean the paper against the window pane, and   they read out loud God's Word diligently. We found out that they needed daily encouragement, so Pastor Li and Roger dropped off devotional books, which were the same books that had a hard time reaching the inmates in the highly secured FDC system. By the way, these books came from dedicated prayer supporters of the ministry. Some of them were even sent from a couple in North California who have been praying for the inmates for over a year. And, Roger and I tried singing praise songs with them through the window slits, but that evidently stretched the system a bit too much. We were told that we could not sing like that in the tiny visiting room because others would not be able to hear their loved ones behind the windows. Oops! Or was it because we sang too terribly? Oh well. We tried. Separated by the finger-print marked glass, we prayed together; we remember others who are weak; we give thanks. We cannot hear each other very well, but God certainly hears us.

In sum, the lesson learned is: Walk with God with eyes opened because He always has better plans for us.

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Please remember the following in your prayer:
- The spiritual walk of the 3 inmates who were recently baptized.
- A team member's father-in-law had a stroke.
- Several team members are facing job difficulties.

God bless!
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