Last spring, our mission team in the Bahamas was trying to get home. Every flight had been canceled due to raging storms. After countless hours in the airport, we were taken by bus to rest at a hotel for a few hours.

I barely slept. All night the events of our trip whirled through my mind.

We hadn’t had a clue what we were getting into when we signed up. Wait. The guys on our team knew exactly what they would be doing: playing softball with inmates and guards at Fox Hill Prison. The girls on our team only knew we would be meeting with the female inmates there. No other info was given.

We scoured the internet for pictures of the facility, trying to get a grasp of where we would be. There was a slight chance we would also get to visit a home for juvenile girls (Willie Mae Pratt Centre). Prayers were prayed, plans were made. Supplies were stuffed into suitcases. We had Bibles, Bible studies, crafts and games ready.

Nothing went as planned, including the weather. But the Lord opened a door for us to go to the Willie Mae! For three days, we shared Scripture and testimonies, played games, painted, made crafts and laughed. The youngest inmate at Fox Hill said she hadn’t smiled so much in a long time.

As we prepared to head home, the guys talked about the games they had played, sharing Jesus with the guards and inmates, and decisions that had been made. Some men had given their hearts to Christ!

We shared about our opportunities with the female inmates and the girls at the Willie Mae. There was so much to tell. We had a great time but there had not been any decisions.

That last night, as I tossed and turned, my heart was heavy. Had we done enough? What should we have done differently to convince the women and girls to give their hearts to Jesus? As the oldest one in our group, I felt the burden was on me.

We stopped on the way back to the airport for Guava Duff, a special Bahamian treat. Outside, some of us chatted with Marvin, the outreach coordinator who had invited us and arranged our mission trip through SportsReach. He had prayed for missionaries to come to reach the women at the prison and the girls at the Willie Mae. As a man, he was unable to enter either place. “Missionaries fly over us, but none come to us,” he stated passionately. “They have church services all the time. I wanted people to come and see them, to bless them. That’s what you did. It was the answer to prayers.”

He couldn’t see my tears of relief behind my big sunglasses.

The end of the year is also a time to ponder. If 2024 has left you unsettled and wondering if you did enough, talk to God about it. Trust that He has a plan for your 2025. He is great at renewal and re-starts. This year, let Him lead you, let Him use you, and let Him do the rest. Mike Slaughter wrote in Christmas Is Not Your Birthday, “If you are willing to do all you can, God will do all that you can’t.” He is famous for it.