Editor’s Note: Junior political science major Ana Martin is studying abroad this semester in Costa Rica. Throughout the 2014 spring semester, Martin has shared her experience with The Periscope. This is her final story.
By Ana Martin
This past week I encountered circumstances that have made me contemplate the concept of God’s provision rather personally. Aside from reading a thought-provoking exposition of the Lord’s Prayer and reflecting on the more classical (yet still beautiful) concepts of God’s knowledge and care for our needs, I have found myself in momentarily trying, but now slightly comical, situations that have compelled me to have to trust more tangibly in these ideas.
Within a period of roughly 48 hours I discovered what it was like to have my debit card eaten by a foreign ATM and tried to navigate a public bus system to a tiny mountain town by myself. To be frank, I would not heartily recommend either.
Nonetheless, in the several hours I spent waiting in the bank for my card to be recovered and while I was pathetically wandering to no fewer than four bus stops, I had a decent amount of time to reflect. Furthermore, in each undesirable situation I was struck by the way in which I was never truly alone or abandoned.
During the ATM fiasco, I not only was able to retrieve my card, but I was never without the comfort of helpful and supportive friends. During my bus misadventures, I was able to humbly discover the help of strangers, one of whom, interestingly enough, shared my name. Moreover, now that both these situations have passed, I have been provided with sufficient time to rest. I am convinced that each of these things has been the result of the God who calls me “friend” having my back.
That is a truly great, awe-inspiring feeling.
I will admit, in both situations my frenzied silent prayers were slightly tinged with the expectation of some grandiose heavenly gesture to affirm my faith in His divine intervention (think ATM getting struck by lightning, an angel appearing to be my bus buddy, etc…). But shockingly enough, I realized that even with my wild imagination, my ideas of God’s provision tend to still “put God in a box” and underappreciate the practical ways He loves to sovereignly provide for us.
In both of these relatively minor crises, I was never alone physically or spiritually and God chose to work in His own ways to get me through them. In fact, in the scheme of life and world history, they were pretty insignificant happenings. However, it is good to remember and feel loved in the fact that He even cares about little situations like this.
Although we tend to want God to simplistically “zap” away our every trial in life as a part of his provision, I have come to believe that He frequently likes to use such little things, the coincidences to the untrained eye, to help us and teach us through the situation instead, probably in part so we will also trust Him in the bigger trials. Ultimately, no matter how or what He chooses to do, we are told repeatedly that we don’t have to worry.
As noted by the German theologian and martyr Dietrich Bonhoffer, “True prayer does not depend either on the individual or the whole body of the faithful, but solely upon the knowledge that our heavenly Father knows our needs. That makes God the sole object of our prayers, and frees us from a false confidence in our own prayerful efforts.”
This last concept was emphasized strongly by Christ in His earthly teachings, and is always easier said than done, but it can nonetheless be a great source of peace. What a comfort it is, furthermore, to know that the God of the universe is not only there with us in every situation, wanting to personally walk us through it but also knows our needs and situations better than we ourselves do and has promised to sustain us.
