The wonder of God’s mysterious working

By: Major Andrew Kelly

I need to give glory to God for something that he has been doing for me in the past few weeks. I am remiss in not having shared it before now, and I apologize ahead of time for the long posting – I believe it is worth it to read to the end.

I have a very good friend that I met while serving in Orlando, Florida, several years ago. He was a part of the advisory board there and at one point became the chair of the board. We got very close during that time, and after we left Orlando, I would receive a call from him once in awhile when there was a significant tragedy taking place somewhere in the USA.

This friend, Brian (he gave me permission to use his name), has a very key role in a significant tourist destination in the Orlando area. He would call me and talk with about the anxiety that he experienced knowing that his place of work could be the next target for some of the man-made tragedies taking place at schools and concerts, etc. He carried quite a burden for that, and we would pray together.

Unfortunately, with his changing of positions and my changing of appointments, we contacted each other less until we did not hear from one another for a few years.

God gave Amy and I the blessed opportunity to be a part of the Centennial Celebration of The Salvation Army in Orlando just a short while ago. While in Orlando, I thought I needed to call Brian and see how he was doing. So, I did. We were not able to meet up with each other, but we did talk on the phone a few times that weekend.

Not long after that, COVID-19 arrived, and all that came with it brought us a new reality. Many of the decisions that have had to be made along the way have been difficult decisions for anyone in any type of management position.

I had had a particularly challenging couple of days because of some of those difficult decisions that we needed to make here in Greenville. I was quite discouraged and anxious about the situation. Then Brian called me with a fabulous story.

He told me that he had been having some stress and anxiety with his new normal with COVID-19 and had been having some bad dreams. The night before he called me, he had a troubling dream in which he remembered that he was very stressed and rushing to meet deadlines and was in the midst of a large crowd for some reason. He said that he looked up, and across the crowd he could see The Salvation Army ministering to people in the crowd. He recognized Amy and me in what he described to me as “your beautiful outfits,” and he came over to talk to us. We gave him encouragement and kept checking on him. WOW!

That gave him encouragement. God used me and Amy in a dream! And then when Brian was telling me about that, God encouraged me in the midst of my anxiety and stress! Praise God for His magnificent and mysterious ways!

Brian and I are speaking with each other on average about once a week now, and God is using us to strengthen and support one another. We can tell each other any details, but we can relate the burdens we carry and pray together for those burdens.

I praise God for bringing Brian back into my life in such a meaningful way. Pray for him, please. He is a good man with a big heart and loves the Lord, but he has some difficult decisions to make in these next few weeks.