answers before the question

i got a cell phone yesterday. well, i had the cell phone already from africa, but i got an italian sim card so i could actually use my cell. i tried smsing my mom first and the message came back as unsent - bummer. then i sms'd naomi in zambia, who i haven't heard from in months.

naomi was supposed to get married this month and i had been waiting to hear the date of her wedding to make my plans to return to africa, but i never heard and kept waiting. it was in this time that i felt moved to...move. i needed to take a risk and not sit waiting so decided to come to italy and thought that maybe i wasn't meant to make it to the wedding, and maybe i was meant to get back to africa. i didn't feel good about missing the wedding, we had been planning on it since day one really. i didn't understand why it wasn't working out.

i've wondered if i missed the wedding and maybe today was naomi's wedding day and i would just be missing out. i wondered if she tried to contact me but with cell phone's not having great service the messages never came to me...lots of wondering.

my sms went through to naomi and i was very happy, hoping she would know i haven't forgotten, that i haven't purposely kept from contacting her.

i received an sms this morning from my dear friend naomi - and guess what?!?! they decided to move the wedding to december 7th - the very time i had planned on going to africa after italy. i was thrilled - god had worked out the details in advance, perfectly, the plan fit together. my being in italy in no way kept me from naomi's wedding and what i had reluctantly decided on was actually the perfect decision. i keep thinking how awesome it is that god is so much bigger than we can even fathom. the plans that just seemed to be the only choice were exactly the plans needed for everything to work out. god allowed me this time in italy - for what, i still do not know, and then the perfect time to visit africa and seek his will for me there coincides with the wedding plans of the year. the song has been ringing in my ears - the song i sang in zambia on that one day - how great is our god, sing with me, how great is our god....

i love it!