I didn’t understand… But I obeyed God -

Danielle | Germany

The God who remains sovereign,
even when we don’t understand what He is doing.

Sometimes, God simply asks us to obey… without explaining why.
But what happens when we trust Him despite not understanding?

At first,

that Sunday morning,

seemed like any other Sunday.

I had woken up exhausted,

but grateful to see a new day.

Then a phrase my sister often says came to mind:

“A new day, a new grace,
the same God and Father.”

I smiled

and thanked my Father for this new day.

And I asked Him to give me the strength
to get through that day,

because my friend Ruth was coming over that afternoon.

— The name has been changed
to protect her privacy.

Because of my illness,

I was no longer able to wash my hair by myself.

So once a month,

she would come to my home after church

with her husband and children.

I went into the kitchen,

wondering what I could prepare
so that they would have something to eat
when they arrived.

I asked the Holy Spirit to show me what to prepare.

I peeled a Charentais melon
and then put it in the refrigerator.

I also thought about adding some potato chips,

because I knew her children liked them.

To my surprise,

the Holy Spirit asked me to take the braised fish
out of the freezer.

So I did.

Then He told me to take out the braised pork,

along with the fried ripe plantains.

I obeyed,

but I didn’t understand.

I asked Him:

“Why do You want me to take all of this out?”

I received no answer.

Instead,

He had me take out even more fried ripe plantains,

as well as breaded fish for the children.

Then He told me to take two bottles of fruit juice,

some water,

and small juice cups for the children,

and put everything in the refrigerator.

I said to Him:

“Papa, I don’t understand what is happening…”

But again,

there was no answer.

I went to pray as I did every morning
and asked Him again in prayer

why He was asking me to take all this food out
of the freezer.

But on that question,

there was complete silence.

I was puzzled,

but I had obeyed.

I said to Him:

“Papa, I don’t understand
what is happening, but I know
that You are still in control.”

After my prayer,

I sent my friend Ruth a message asking her
to let me know when she was leaving church.

I wanted to put all the food in the oven to warm it up
before they arrived.

Around 2:30 p.m.,

I still hadn’t heard from her.

But the Holy Spirit prompted me
to go and put the meal in the oven to warm it up.

Again,

I didn’t understand…

but I obeyed.

About ten minutes later,

Ruth messaged me to say that they had left church
and were coming with Esther, a sister from church.

— The name has been changed
to protect her privacy.

A few minutes later,

she messaged me again:

“By the way, today is Joseph’s birthday.”

Joseph is her husband’s name.

— The name has been changed
to protect his privacy.

And then…

suddenly…

all the confusion of that morning disappeared.

The preparations suddenly made sense.

I was so happy

that I had obeyed.

Then Papa gave me the strength to get up again
and quickly set a festive table for Joseph’s birthday.

When they arrived,

everything was ready and set out on the table.

All I had to do
was take the hot food out of the oven
and put it on the table.

And the most amazing part of the whole story was this:

The Holy Spirit had prompted Emmanuel,

their ten-year-old eldest son,

to invite their friend Esther
to come and celebrate his father’s birthday.

— The son’s name has been changed
to protect his privacy.

It was simply incredible

to see how God had orchestrated all these events.

God had prepared
the surprise celebration

and had even arranged for a surprise guest.

And this surprise celebration deeply touched his wife,
Ruth.

She went into the kitchen
under the pretext of bringing out some food,

so that she could cry.

Later, she told me

that she had not planned
to celebrate her husband’s birthday at all

and was therefore especially moved.

She was so deeply touched by God’s goodness.

I don’t know what Papa said to her,

but she kept repeating:

“Now I know and I see
that God loves me.”

And I thanked the Lord

for allowing Him to use me

to speak to her

and to show her His love that day.

I was filled with gratitude,

and my heart overflowed with joy
to have been an instrument of my Father

to bless this family on that special day.

Sometimes,

a simple act of obedience
in the little things of everyday life,

even when we don’t understand what God is doing,

can make all the difference and change the way
the people around us see

our God and Father.

Because even when we don’t understand
what is happening,

our God remains sovereign

and is still in control.

He had orchestrated everything.

Even when we don’t understand,
God remains
our greatest conductor!

That day reminded me of these words:

“It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed,
because his compassions fail not.
They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.”
— Lamentations 3:22–23 (KJV)

Yes,

the goodness of our Lord is renewed every morning.

Sometimes,

all we need to do is open our eyes

to see it.

And sometimes,

we need to trust Him first before we understand

what He is doing.

Because even when we don’t understand,

our Father already sees

the whole picture.

We often see only one small piece of the puzzle.

But He sees the whole picture.

He knows where each piece belongs,

and He can lead us,

step by step,

until everything comes together according to His plan.

So even when we don’t understand what He is doing,

let us choose to trust Him.

Our Father sees what we can’t see.

My prayer for all of us is that

our God and Father would open our eyes every day,

so that we would not miss any of the little signs
He gives us in our everyday lives,

out of His love for us,

and that in everything,

we would give Him all the glory.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways,
and my thoughts than your thoughts.“
— Isaiah 55:8–9 (KJV)

✦ Danielle | Germany ✦