Derailed Plans or a Divine Plot Twist?

It was a normal March Tuesday in Cayman Brac. Pastor Gayle Woods drove from the mission home near the bluff, intent on visiting ill parishioners at the hospital.

But on this particular day, Dr. Woods’ vehicle interrupted his plans by running roughly, not getting up to speed, and belching black exhaust. Abandoning his original intent, Dr. Woods set his sights on N & N Auto Repair.

As he was passing Market Place, the car seemed to be running a little better, so he decided to park and restart before making a final decision. The problems persisted, the car died several times, and in the confusion, Dr. Woods accidentally backed into the bumper of a blue Hyundai.

Although he saw no damage, Dr. Woods wanted to tell the owner of the vehicle what had happened. It looked like a trip inside was necessary—a further change of plans.

No one inside seemed to know who the owner was, but suddenly someone spotted a woman headed to her car. Dr. Woods hurried outside to tell her what had happened. She was not concerned with her bumper in the least, and the two began chatting.

It was then that the pieces started to fall into place. The lady and her husband were from Pennsylvania, and when in Cayman they attend Crossroad Baptist Church. He is a retired veterinarian looking to possibly donate his expertise on the island if the Caymanian government would recognized his license from the U.S. or issue him one of their own. That morning she had prayed that God would direct her steps to meet someone He wanted her to speak to.

Dr. Woods immediately thought of one of his parishioners at the Watering Place church, Sis. Juliana O’Connor-Connolly, who also happens to be the Minister of Agriculture and Lands for the islands.

Sis. Juliana immediately responded when Dr. Woods shared the story with her, saying she would speak to her Agriculture Policy Officer. Dr. Woods was able to get the veterinarian’s contact information for them.

“It just seemed like a ‘God thing’ which could be of benefit to Cayman Brac,” Dr. Woods later wrote. 

“...It is amazing how He works, isn’t it? She prayed, not expecting someone to run into her car as a result, and certainly not someone who would stick around to tell her about it. And who was to say that the conversation would not have gone a different way and her husband’s desire would not even be discussed? To cap it all off, how could she have known that the person who ran into her car pastored a Minister of Parliament who was in charge of Agriculture and Lands—the one person who might be able to make things happen?

“God is amazing. I am continually surprised at how He works in such mysterious ways His wonders to perform.”

Truly, sometimes our derailed plans are actually God’s hand at work.

Read this month's issue of The Harvest Times.