多年前，我丈夫與一群教會的弟兄姐妹，計劃前往非洲做短期宣教。但在最後一刻，他們的旅程受阻，無法成行。即使每個人都很失望，但他們還是把為訂購機票、住宿、膳食所籌措的款項，全數捐贈給他們原本打算去宣教的村莊。對方用這筆錢建造樓房，作為受虐者的收容所。

最近，在一個祈禱早餐會中，我丈夫遇見了一個來自非洲的弟兄，他就住在我丈夫多年前計劃前往的那個村莊裡。他是一位教師，他說他每天走路時都會經過那棟樓房。他可以證實，上帝用這樓房讓那個地區最弱勢的族群得到了照顧。

有時候，我們的計劃與想望並不一定與上帝的心意一致。因為祂的意念非同我們的意念，祂的道路非同我們的道路（以賽亞書55章8節）。上帝的道路不只是與我們的不同，甚至還比我們的道路更高、更好，因為祂所做的一切，符合祂的本質（9節）。尤其當我們努力服事祂，結果卻與我們原本的計劃不同時，這個真理給了我們盼望。

或許要等到多年以後，我們回顧過往，才能透過某些特定的情況追溯上帝在其中的影響。但如今，當我們繼續因耶穌的名向世界伸出援手時，我們可以謹記，上帝總是以祂的大能在工作，我們為祂所做的絕不會白費（11節）。

Many years ago, my husband decided to take a trip to Africa with a group of people from his church. At the last minute, the group was prevented from going on its journey. Everyone was disappointed, but the money they’d collected for airfare, lodging, and food was donated to the people they’d tried to visit. The people used it to construct a building that would shelter victims of abuse.

Recently, at a prayer breakfast, my husband met someone who lived in the village he’d almost traveled to so many years ago. This person was a teacher who said he walked by the building every day. He confirmed that God had used it to provide for the most vulnerable people in the area.

Our plans and desires don’t always match what God has in mind. For His “thoughts are not [our] thoughts, neither are [our] ways [His] ways” (Isaiah 55:8). God’s ways aren’t just different from ours; His ways are “higher” and better because what He does is consistent with who He is (v. 9). This truth gives us hope when our efforts to serve Him don’t turn out the way we’d planned.

It might be years before we’re able to look back and trace God’s influence through certain situations. For now, though, as we continue to reach out to the world in His name, we can remember that God is always powerfully at work (v. 11).