CMS missionaries Sam and Bec Gorfine recently moved to Groote Eylandt to serve God’s people. In this article, Sam reflects on their third ‘God-incidence’ that prompted their hearts to serve in the Northern Territory.

You can read their first ‘God-incidence’ story here, and their second story here.

‘I know that God’s timing is much better than my own!’

 

A perfectly orchestrated opportunity

There were lots of big decisions that Bec and I had to make near the end of 2015, while we were dating. I was about to finish my studies as a primary school teacher, and Bec was about to head off to South Africa to complete her missionary training with OM.

I had recently come back from my teaching placement in Yarralin (which you can read about here), and I felt a conviction that God was sending me to work in the remote areas of the NT.

Bec was planning to be overseas for the whole of 2016, so it seemed clear to me that God was opening the door for me to begin serving his church and people in the NT for at least a year. After this, we hoped to get engaged and then seek as a married couple where God was sending us (click here to read how God was calling Bec to the NT during this period). Around this time, we were attending our local SIIM (CMS ‘Seriously Interested In Mission’) group with the amazing Rachel and David Williams (Director of Training and Development at CMS-A) and started praying about whether we may serve with CMS.

I had a sense to apply for a teaching job at a Christian school in a community in Arnhem Land, so I whipped up a resume and sent it off to this school. Shortly afterwards, I had a phone call interview with the school principal. At the end of the call, she said over the phone that not many people had applied, and she thought that my application looked good, so she would call me soon with good news.

I was very excited and felt that God had perfectly orchestrated this opportunity to get some good experience before Bec and I were married and were ready to make a long-term commitment serving God together as missionaries.

A set-back

About one week later, I received a phone call from the NT. My heart was pounding, and I was eager to quit my part-time job at Coles and pack my suitcase.

However, what I heard next was not the news that I was prepared for! Very sadly, I heard that there was a tragedy at the school, and they were going to have to close the buildings for 6-12 months. They weren’t sure if the school would be able to continue. The principal painfully told me that she would have to cancel the job application and asked me to pray for her and the school.

My heart sank and I wasn’t sure what to do. I began looking for other job applications in the remote surrounding areas and all the schools were not hiring, which was very bizarre given the time of year.

Doubt creeping in

When God closes doors, it is difficult to not let doubt creep in.

I began to reconsider whether God really was calling me to the NT—did he even want me to be a missionary at all? I began to rewrite my resume and apply for schools in Melbourne. Again, each interview that I attended seemed to go really well, but then at the last minute I would hear that I didn’t get the job.

Feeling confused and lost, I was encouraged by Romans 12:12: “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” I knew that God must have had a purpose in all of this. I had one final job interview, and heard that I was successful!

God’s timing is better than ours

In the ten years since this time, Bec and I married, we moved to a new suburb and church, and we continued to seek God’s mission calling as we regularly involved ourselves with CMS. I worked at another school, we went to Bible college, we had a child, we completed our missionary training at St Andrew’s Hall with CMS, and now we have a clear calling for where God has led us.

I doubt that we would have been thoroughly prepared and equipped for long-term service in such a different culture if we hadn’t had all these other experiences. I know that God’s timing is much better than my own!

It is easy to say in hindsight that we need to trust in the Lord Jesus in his purposes, but if you are also going through a tricky season, know that ‘God-Incidences’ really do happen for a reason and we need to trust in him.

Thank you, Jesus, for getting us to this point!

GO

Has Sam and Bec’s story prompted your heart to consider serving cross-culturally? Why not start a conversation with your local branch today! Click here to find out more.