Genesis 50:20

Genesis 50:20 “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”

One of the missions my church supports is an orphanage in Mexico’s Baja California. For over thirty years the Rancho operated as an oasis of safety and hope for the orphaned and abandoned children of that area.

But four years ago, the local social service agency placed a couple boys with the Rancho without telling Rancho staff the boys were known molesters. Later, when the boys abused some of the other children, the social service agency shut down the Rancho.

During the years of fighting painstakingly slow legal battles in Mexico, the Rancho Board of Directors started looking for ways to minister to the community while they waited to get their property back. They bought some property in town and converted the house into a day care center for the single mothers who had no place to leave their children during work hours. They also started work on a maternity home. And when the local school (which was no more than a couple walls leaning against the side of a restaurant) was destroyed when the restaurant burned down, the Rancho staff and a group of volunteers from a US church built a real school building.
The latest Rancho newsletter tells about the new baby and toddler house they’ve just opened up after years of having no children to care for directly. Five precious little ones who now have the chance for lives filled with love.

If the Rancho hadn’t been shut down as it was, they would have continued caring for their orphans in their oasis separated from the community. But because of the legal battles, the Rancho Board and the churches that support them have had an impact on the community and affected many more lives with the message of Christ than ever would have been possible.

How about you? Has someone done something to thwart you? Do your plans all seem fruitless? Maybe it’s time to stop fighting and start looking around to see how God wants to use you where you are and as you are--in the middle of your challenges. Let Him turn evil plans to His good in your life.

Brenda