One pastor shared a story with us that illustrates God’s plan to use problems to accomplish his will. He told us about losing his cell phone and all the frustration that goes with that experience. By purchasing a new phone he was unable to retain his old numbers so many people were unable to reach him. He was frustrated by this but unknown to him God was working from the time he lost the phone.

In China, old cell phone numbers are deactivated and then reissued to a new cell phone that someone purchases when a six month period is completed. The person that received the old cell number started getting a multitude of calls asking “Is this Pastor —–?” The gentleman had been assigned the old number started to wonder “Who in the world is Pastor —–? He must be a very important man.” He began asking those who called who the person was that had this phone number and it led him on a journey that had to be one of divine design and purpose.

He lived in an area of over 6 million people, but as he was driving down the street one day he saw a church and on impulse came back and walked in. He was touched by the joyful singing of the choir as they were praising God and listened carefully to the sermon. A month later he accepted Christ as his Savior and became a part of the church. In a conversation with one of the men, he shared the story of the frequent calls for Pastor —–. The man knew Pastor —– very well and gave him his new number. He called the pastor to share his story and then began passing his number to those who called. God used this man to reconnect the Pastor to those who needed him but more importantly to lead this man to a relationship with himself.

“O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” Romans 11:33