Disappointment, Or His Appointment?

I've been learning that interruptions and disappointments can be God's way of getting our attention, of changing our plans. Here's a glorious example:

In 1806, while attending Williams College in Massachusetts, Samuel Mills and some other students would gather for prayer every week. Afterward, they all set off for home. Mills and four others were traveling homeward together when a sudden downpour struck. The men sought shelter in a haystack by the road. If they had been like many of us, they would have sat there whining and worrying about the waste of time. But they simply resumed the prayer meeting. It was then that the Lord revealed himself and his will to them in such a powerful way that all of them dedicated their lives to missionary endeavors on the spot. And they lived out that commitment. This was at a time when almost no one from the US was serving as missionaries.

As a result of the now-famous "Haystack Prayer Meeting," the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was born, the very first American missions agency.

Incidentally, Mills' mother had dedicated him to the Lord as an infant to be a missionary. Again, at a time when very few Americans were doing this. Her prayer was wonderfully answered.