THERE ARE NO ACCIDENTS WITH GOD (Part 1)
Our God is sovereign. That means there’s no such thing as luck. Anything that happens to you, good or bad, must pass through His fingers first. There are no accidents with God. The story of an IT missionary, Brother Shane Ornedo, who was called by God to be a part of the great commission was no accident either.
In 2015, he became a part of International Teams Philippines, a mission-sending organization. Then, he went to Malaysia to join the mission exposure trip. At that time, he quit his job to focus on doing missions and he was amazed at how the Lord provided for his needs as he went to Malaysia. While he was in Malaysia, he was seeking the Lord and asked, “Where would I fit in?” Soon after that, the Lord revealed to him that he was going to be a mission coordinator, in which he will be bringing people to the nations to help with God’s work in the mission field. He praised the Lord for he believes it’s God’s gift to him.
The second time he returned to Malaysia, he joined the East Asia Conference that was held there, and it was his first time mobilizing a group of missionary trainees. On the day of their flight, the three missionary trainees were held off by the immigration for questioning. Brother Shane spoke to the immigration officer and vouched for them. Fortunately, the immigration officer let them board their flight. He praised the Lord for giving him the wisdom on how to answer the questions and how to deal with the immigration officer.
A few months later, another challenge was presented to Brother Shane. This time, he has to mobilize missionary trainees to go to South Korea. They have to secure a visa first before going. His faith and the other missionaries’ faith were tested on whether they were called to go to South Korea. But the Lord was with Brother Shane and his visa was approved and the other IT missionaries who were with him. Since he resigned from his work, he was struggling financially but by the grace of God, his needs were provided for.
When Brother Shane arrived in South Korea, he didn’t expect to earn any money for he was there on a mission. However, he was blessed to have a part-time job and had more money before he came to South Korea. During their mission trip, Brother Shane and the other missionary trainees were supporting the work in churches such as in praise and worship team and coordinating. They also helped in outreach missions, jail ministry, and teaching Bible study. Brother Shane admitted that he was tempted to work in South Korea, but he asked the Lord whether it is His will or not and the Lord clearly told him that he has to go back to the Philippines. Because of his obedience, the Lord blessed him greatly.
He was able to return to Korea several more times. The second time he returned to Korea was his first time going by himself and asked the Lord “Can I do this, Lord?” But that’s when God let him experience a lot of things. God has provided everything for him though he faced some difficulties when it comes to communication because he didn’t know how to speak Korean. However, the Lord gives him wisdom. He was able to learn some basic and useful Korean expressions which helped him get around places.
He was able to return for the third and fourth time to South Korea, and there were abundant blessings and even his mom went with him. He was able to establish some friendships and he was looking forward to returning to Korea again as the Lord leads.
The story doesn’t end here because God is a God of promotion so the next journey of faith Brother Shane would have will be in Europe.
It is the Lord who made all these things happen and it was the most extraordinary experience Brother Shane had for the Lord doesn’t disappoint and He even exceeded the expectations we have. For God is a great Father and all He wants is what’s best for His children. Praise the Lord Almighty!
Philippians 2:13
For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill His good purpose.
(Written by: Venus Jablo)