When You Learn to Trust What He Put in Your Heart
By Kevin Pilger
Day 43
Something happened this week that made me pause, reflect, and just thank God all over again — because this is exactly the kind of thing that reminds you He sees every detail of what you're carrying.
There's a pastor in Uganda named Sam. He and his wife Beatrice found us through some mutual friends, and the Lord put it on his heart to reach out and pray for our family. Let that sink in for a moment. Someone on the other side of the world — in Uganda — carrying us before the throne of grace by name. If you ever wonder whether God is paying attention to what you're walking through, that right there is your answer. He is. And He'll move someone ten thousand miles away to prove it.
Sam and Beatrice aren't just praying either. They're doing outreach to orphans in their community. Street preaching. Real-deal, boots-on-the-ground ministry. And when I told Sam about the Brave Believers curriculum — a children's resource the Lord dropped in my heart back in 2024 to teach kids about their authority in Christ — he was all in. They're going to use it with the children they serve.
A free resource. A conversation. A connection God ordained. And now the next generation in Uganda is going to learn who they are in Jesus.
That's not coincidence. That's the table reaching the nations before we ever step on a plane.
This is how God works. Seed by seed. Step by step. To Him be all the glory.
The seven pages of notes are gone.
I'll be honest with you — and honest is all I know how to be here. I used to be the guy who walked into any room with seven pages of notes, every word mapped out, every transition planned, every moment controlled. I thought that was preparation. What it really was — was fear dressed up in a three-ring binder.
God's been dismantling that. Lovingly. Firmly. Completely.
He reminded me of something He said a long time ago — don't worry about what you're going to say, because in the moment He'll give you the words. I'm learning to live inside that promise rather than around it. And what's coming out of my heart without a script? It's more alive than anything those seven pages ever produced.
Maybe you're in a season where God is asking you to put down the notes too. To stop managing what comes out and start trusting what He put in. It's uncomfortable at first. And then it becomes the most freeing thing you've ever experienced.
Two stories about listening — one where we got it right, one where we didn't.
Late one night in Mexico — one o'clock in the morning — Gabby and I were heading home from an event. There were only two roads to get to where we lived and I always took the same one. But that night something in my heart said go the other way. So I did. A few minutes later Gabby looked over and said — Kevin, I'm so glad you did that. I felt the same thing.
We never found out what was waiting on that road. We didn't need to. God knew. We listened. And we got home safe.
Now here's the other one. This one still gets me.
Not long ago Gabby and I went out for breakfast — long wait, crowded restaurant, a lot weighing on us. There was a woman in line ahead of us and as clear as anything the Lord said to my heart — invite her to the table. I didn't. Too caught up in our own stuff. Too worried it might be awkward. Gabby felt the exact same prompting and held back too. We didn't find out until later, comparing notes in the car — and we just looked at each other.
Lord, forgive us.
No dramatic ending to that story. Just the truth. The enemy has been attacking relationships since Genesis — going all the way back to that first conversation in the garden where he tried to sever the fellowship between Adam and God. That's not coincidence either. Relationship is powerful. The table is powerful. And he has always known it.
We're not dwelling on what we missed that day. We're sharpened by it. More tuned in now than we were then. That's how God works — He even uses the misses to move us forward.
The tipping game — and what God is teaching us through it.
One more thing before I let you go — and you might laugh. That's okay. I'm laughing too.
God's been dealing with me about stingy thinking. Not just at restaurants — in life. The mentality that there isn't enough, that I need to hold on tight, that generosity is a risk rather than a response to His faithfulness. He's been rewriting that in me one moment at a time.
So Gabby and I started playing this little game when we go out to eat. Before we leave a tip we each write down separately — quietly, prayerfully — what we feel like the Lord is saying to give. Then we compare. We're new at this. God's still writing the rules. But the point isn't the number. The point is the posture — learning to hear His voice in the small moments so we're ready when the big ones come.
The other day I wrote down a hundred dollars. We don't have a hundred dollars right now. But I wrote it down because that's what I felt. When I showed Gabby — her jaw dropped. She couldn't believe it. We went with her number. But something broke open in me just by writing it down and being willing.
That's where we are. Training our spirits. Tuning in. Learning that the same God who led us down a different road in Mexico at one in the morning is still speaking — at the breakfast table, in the tip line, right in the middle of the founding season of a ministry He called us to build.
He hasn't stopped talking. We're just getting better at listening.
This is Day 43. We're trusting God — not man. And the harvest is coming.
If something in this resonated with you, I'd love to hear from you. Reach out at [email protected] or find us on Facebook at Keystone Table Rock Ministries. And if you know someone who needs to read this today — share it. That's what tables are for.
From the table to the nations — one step, one day, one conversation at a time.