We fought, but it didn’t happen. With 2 of our 4 students deciding to stay back this year to support their family, and with only 2 students left, we had to decide to cancel our 2015 Fall DET in Cascade Idaho. But through the process of fighting, and letting go, God taught us a lot.
Lesson 1: Sometimes, though we follow God’s lead, the results are not what we expected.
As we were following God’s lead throughout the time leading up to the DTS, we saw some pretty amazing things happen and we got to speak into the lives of several people. But unlike what we expected, this didn’t lead to us getting more students.
Lesson 2: God is worth being followed and trusted.
As the DTS start date grew closer, the lack of students began to press on us. We were still trusting God, but would He still do it? During this time I found peace in two songs by Lauren Daigle – “Trust in You” and “First”. Especially “Trust in You” was a comforting, but also a challenging song. The song speaks about choosing to trust God, even when things don’t go the way we hoped.
Lesson 3: Sometimes, the answer is no.
As the day arrived on which we had to decide whether or not to run the DTS, God gave us a clear answer. As our staff met together to pray, we first asked ourselves this question:
“Are we willing to run the school with the 3 students that we currently have?”
Our answer was “Yes”.
Then we asked God: “May we run the school with these 3 students?”
God’s answer too was “Yes”.
But during the time leading up to this prayer time, God had showed us the importance of pursuing what is best and therefore we knew we needed to ask one more question.
“What would be best for our students?”
As we were ready to ask this last question, I got a text message from one of our students. She told me she needed to talk with us because she wasn’t sure anymore if she would be able to take the DTS this year.
We asked about what was best for our students, and our answer came directly from one of them. That is when we decided to cancel school.
Lesson 4: God’s way brings peace.
When we had decided to cancel the school, it was as if a peace came over me. I now knew that this was the right thing to do, no matter how anxious I had been that this would happen. The answer had been clear and I knew that we had followed God’s will.
Lesson 5: God has a plan.
Though the DTS was cancelled, God had a plan. One of our students is currently doing her DTS somewhere else, and she will still get to go to India where she had felt God call her to. And the 3 other students that had been in the picture, are all hoping to take their DTS sometime in the future.
And for us? Well, we are now in full preparation for the 2016 Utah Compassion DTS, something we would not have been able to do this soon if the DTS had not been cancelled.
And so out of the ashes of the 2015 Idaho Fall DTS, a new DTS is born. It was only last week that we visited Utah to meet with the different people involved and now we are officially launching our YWAM Utah Campus Website.
God is good and He can be trusted. And only He is worthy of all that we do for Him.
Praise the Lord and God bless you – Amen.
YWAM Utah Campus 