God Is Never Late
12 January 2021
Missionaries are finding creative ways to minister to refugees during this time of pandemic. Read and find out how God is providing!
“Could you use computers for your ESL students?” a man asked me after I finished speaking at a men’s breakfast at our church.
I thought for a minute. I couldn’t imagine many of our students, all Newcomers to Canada, using them any time soon but maybe sometime in the future, they would need them?
“Sure, that would be great,” I replied.
We arranged to get a computer-delivered for each of our students’ families. Many refugees having escaped places like Burundi, Syria, and Eritrea.
But then COVID-19 Happened
Within a few weeks of delivering the computers, COVID hit, including our ESL centre.
The computers, which seemed like an extra just a few weeks before, now were a huge necessity for the refugees during the pandemic.
One week later, with everything shut down and students being told to “stay in place,” our centre was back running six ESL classes daily. But this time it looked different – with the use of the new computers, we could start online.
God’s timing and provision were incredible.
“A lot changed so quickly,” explained Fatima, one of our students. “We stayed at home. It made me scared, and it was so hard for the children. We live in an apartment. If the boys started playing a bit loudly, the neighbor below me would knock on the door. He would then say he was going to call the police.”
But despite her fears, she still managed to find things to help her kids.
“Sometimes I would buy treats for the kids. Then, we would drive to the beach and sit in the car and eat… just to get them out of the house and do something special with them.”
Despite the many unknowns, Halima, another ESL student, shared, “It was very hard, my children just ate and watched movies, but we also did things together as a family … that part was special.”
For many of our students, their class time was the only normalcy they had each day. During this time, we as a staff continued to pray for God-sized ideas of ways to connect and encourage our students. Drive-by birthdays, videos from our volunteers, and being a listening ear for them as they struggled were some of the ways we continued to be a light to them.
One day, while praying for another way to connect during the Easter season, I received a phone call. The person on the other line said, “I feel like God wanted me to call and ask if your students would like Easter Lilies?” I smiled again at God’s timing.
A week later, on the Easter weekend, we delivered not only 20 Easter Lilies to our students’ houses but also gave them each the beautiful book called “A Radical Love Story” in their own language that shares His perfect gift.
Yes, God is never later but always on time.
