Puzzle pieces of God's intricate plan

          God has this plan. He knows every detail. We have learned, while we might know the plan ourselves, to listen to God and trust his plan. We had no idea why God was calling us to move to Tennessee. That was never in "our" plans, but it was in God's. We took a leap of faith, moving our family to a place where we had no friends or family, no jobs, and God took care of us. AJ's work let him work from home, my work let me transfer. That was a confirmation we were doing the right thing. We found a church in Tennessee. Not long after we started going there, a family from Colorado moved to Clarksville. They started going to 180 church too. Two and a half years later that family, the Jorden family, invited us on a mission to Uganda! So, we finally found out why we were taken to Tennessee. We had started homeschooling our kids before the invite. We couldn't use online curriculum because AJ needed the computer for work. We found out we were going to be homeschooling in Uganda, and it would be book curriculum because the lack of electricity. So we found out that was one of the puzzle pieces.
       We sold everything we had, besides a plot of land, and moved our family to Uganda. We had no clue what to expect. What would daily life look like? Would we be welcomed?How would the kids adjust? Would they make friends? What if calls us to stay longer than a year? There were TONS of questions. The questions we did not have were: is God calling us here? Will God take care of us? What if God doesn't want us to stay a full year? We fully trusted God in our calling, we knew he would take care of us. What we didn't even think of was what if he doesn't call us to stay a year. We were confident in thinking he called us for a minimum of a year. After I ruptured my back I wasn't sure what God had in his plans. At first I felt like I deviated from the plan. What if though, his plan was to call us...for us to completely trust him? What if he really wanted us to only stay a month, as we did?
       I was really sad at leaving. God gave us confirmation this was his plan, just as he did with moving to Tennessee.  Two days before our flight was leaving, AJ was trying to connect to the Internet, but kept getting a connection error. Not two minutes after his last try,  A Skype message came through from one of his old coworkers. They asked how our mission was going. AJ told them it was actually ending and we would be home in two days. The coworker then instructed AJ to come in on Monday and get his job back. So before we even left Uganda, we had the security of knowing he had a job. What a puzzle piece!
       When we got back I went to see a specialist. Although the specialist in Uganda said I needed surgery right away or I could become paralyzed, the specialist here said that it wasn't quite as bad as they thought. I still might need surgery, but I can try other options first.  I feel like it was God's plan for the specialist in Uganda to tell me it was that serious, otherwise I would not have left. God knew what it was going to take to get us to come home. I firmly believe that it was his plan for us to come home after only one month. I know it wasn't my plan!
       While I don't know his plan, I fully trust it. I know it might take  months, years, possibly more than that, to find out what his plan is. He will reveal it in his time. I can't always see how these puzzle pieces fit together, or what the end picture will look like, but I can rest knowing he does! We are praying for God to guide us to what we are supposed to do next. I do know Uganda is another puzzle piece in this big picture. I'm glad he sent us. I'm glad for the time we got there. I'm glad we listened to his calling us. This experience has forever changed me.
     I can't wait for more puzzle pieces!