In July of 2010, God gave me the opportunity to go to Chang Rai, Thailand for 23 days. I went with 18 high school students ranging from the ages of 16 to 18 and 9 leaders including myself. We spent the majority of our time serving at a facility called Baan Immanuel, a home for kids. Some of them do not have families, some have families that cannot support them and some have families who simply don’t want them. We spent much of our time with the kids at Baan Immanuel.  We also traveled to several of the nearby hill tribe villages working and doing outreaches alongside the students and staff of Baan Immanuel. God also let me minister to the American students we brought. I was able to debrief with some of them almost every night, talk them through relational and spiritual struggles, allow them to vent when necessary and point them to Jesus at every opportunity. We also had just plain old fun, soccer in the mud, dancing and singing with the little kids, playing games and going to night markets. In a sound bite that was my trip to Thailand.

So, when I tell you that I was disappointed by my trip you will probably get confused. It’s possible you’ll think I’m a jerk and not want to read the rest of what I have to say. I’m simply being honest though. I expected one thing and got another. I looked for God to work one way and when He worked in an unexpected way I almost missed it.

Don’t’ get me wrong, seeing God work in Thailand was amazing. I have pages and pages in my journal of answered prayers and stories of incredible things he did in the student’s lives. I have pictures and mementos that remind me of the relationships I built and the kids at Baan Immanuel that I will never forget. The disappointment actually originated with the fact that I expected God to work on and change certain things in me. So, when I say I was disappointed it had nothing to do with the work He did in Thailand it had to do with the work He did in me. I wanted a Moses and the burning bush experience. I wanted a red sea miracle kinda thing to happen (I’m reading Exodus, can you tell?). But instead I got day to day mercies, gentle nudging, and small changes in my perspective. I came back…. Sara. Not, extra spiritual Sara enlightened by time spent in a different country, just plain old Sara.

After much time spent talking to my Jesus he showed me something sweet, a small personal revelation. Thailand was an opportunity that He allowed me to experience but the experience was not the important part. The important part was the obedience. The walking forward in God’s plan with arms outstretched, allowing God to take me to a place that I was terrified to go. It was a step in the process that is life. With all the preparation and the build up of excitement I had begun to think of Thailand as a goal and the time spent there was to be a spiritual awakening of proportions I could only imagine. I believed a lie. My Thailand experience was incredible but it was only another step in my journey with a faithful, loving savior, one of many. If God allows me to go to Thailand again I will leap at the chance but If God tells me to stay here for the rest of my life I will hold on to Him and trust that He has a plan.

The people and culture of Thailand are beautiful. The majority of them are held in bondage by Satan’s lies and tricks. They believe in the spiritual but are blinded to the truth of salvation. I was privileged to witness the Lord bring many out of darkness. He worked in miraculous ways and poured His love out in abundance. My hope is that this will encourage you to pray. Please pray for the people of Thailand. Please pray for P’ Ron, the staff of Baan Immanuel and the amazing students at Baan Immanuel. And if God gives you the opportunity to walk forward with arms outstretched straight to Thailand take it with both hands.

“God’s training is for now, not presently. His purpose is for this minute, not for something in the future.” (Oswald Chambers)

“How safe it is for me to trust Your reasons for acting (or not acting) and your methods of working! Thank you that I can safely commit my location and situation to You. I can ‘be willing for you to shift me anywhere on life’s checkerboard, or bury me anywhere In life’s garden, gladly yielding myself for You to please yourself with, anywhere and anyway You choose’ Thank you that I can trust You with my future places – ready to go, ready to stay.”

“Thank you that I can move into the future nondefensively, with hands outstretched to whatever lies ahead.”                                                                                                                                                                         (31 days of praise)

Sara Schneider