When asked “What was your Donut Moment?” on the final day of the Thrive retreat, one cultural worker from Cambodia stood up. She grabbed the microphone and answered with tears in her eyes and a quiver in her voice.
“My little girl at home has been asking and asking for Nerds. I like to spoil her, and it’s been so hard to tell her time and time again, ‘No baby, they don’t have your favorite candy.’ It just breaks my heart that I can’t give her what she wants. Then I came to this retreat and I look down on the tables and there are Nerds… God provided Nerds so that I could take them home to my baby and let her know that Jesus loves her too.”
The Sunday before we arrived in the Philippines, I was standing in my local King Soopers in Denver, Colorado. I was low on cash but was asked to bring numerous items with me to the retreat. Slightly upset, I walked through the isles of the grocery store asking God if I should purchase name brand items or generic.
“I will take care of you.” A voice went off inside my head. I picked the name brand.
I entered the candy aisle. I decided that if I had to purchase 10 lbs of fruity candy it would be the things that I liked. I reached up onto the shelves, grabbed the Nerds and chucked them out of frustration into the cart.
10 days later, I am bawling my eyes out as this woman spoke. I quickly realized that my small action in Denver, Colorado was positively affecting a child in Cambodia without me knowing it at the time. That we could not even realize the purpose of his work and the ripple effect that can be heard halfway around the world. That God used my rebellious heart to still complete his work. That because through my obedience of being called to do something that I didn’t understand, the end result was still far greater than I could have ever seen or imagined. It left me in awe. Here we were with her sharing her story, and I had seen the action come full circle.
Isn’t it amazing how God works? Even with something as simple as a box of Nerds that restored a woman’s faith in Jesus and taught me a much greater lesson that day. He truly is the master designer.
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