God's Timing and Orchestration

I am convinced that I would not be a part of the Christian Women's Job Corps in Amarillo if God had not prepared me for this work during our years in Slovakia. There are materials we are using here that we first had translated into the Slovak language and taught there through an interpreter. It was there that we worked with a number of homeless, jobless people struggling to develop a healthy recovery from their addictions. It was before we left there in early 2009 that we asked the Lord to show us what He had next for us that would allow us to be good stewards of all He taught us in Slovakia.

Without taking the time to explain God's orchestration of circumstances, it seems that Slovakia was our experiential training ground for CWJC. A little over three months from the time we arrived in Amarillo, I was on my way to the first level of training for CWJC.

Nineteen months later our closest colleagues in Slovakia, who worked side by side with us and learned along with us in the ministry there, have come to Texas to complete the first level of National Certification Training in order to introduce the Christian Women's and Christian Men's Job Corps to Slovakia. It seems natural. It seems fitting. It seems timely.

I don't know that I can explain the significance of this to Joe Ann and to me, but I'll try. During the years we were in Slovakia we witnessed the introduction of a number of American-born ideas and programs before their time. They were foreign concepts that were ill-fitted to the people and the culture. They were planted but did not flourish.

The excitement we feel today is about God's timing and orchestration of circumstances and preparation of people in a way that will allow Jozef and Jana to take in a program that won't have much of a foreign feel to it. The Slovak soil has been prepared by their continuation and enhancement of a ministry that is truly theirs.
The addition of CWJC and CMJC to the ministry there will be more like welcoming a new family member than greeting a stranger.

As we sit around the table and imagine CWJC/CMJC's Youniqueness in Slovakia, we share a dream, a hope, and a prayer and anticipate a continuing partnership in ministry.