Coincidence or not?
Lately, there are been many different occurrences that which has really helped me understand both the power of God, but also the plan in which God has laid out for everyone. One of those examples happened Friday night. I decided to go on a prayer walk, so that I could spend some intentional time with God. We have a very nice trail (White Pine Trail) right by my house, which made it easy to figure out where I could spend this time. So I was walking on the White Pine Trail praying that God would soften my heart. I know that over the years, one thing I have struggled with immensely is being so self-centered and as a result, my heart would be hardened to, well, pretty much anything that didn't have to do with making my life better.
Little side-note in the story: lately I have been trying to focus and understand what it means to meditate on God's Word.
As I was walking, I decided that I would just start reading scripture verses out loud. I opened up to Psalms, and started reading. This time of reading scripture out loud made Scripture very real to me. There is something about reading it out loud that makes it much more meaningful. This helped me in two ways. First, it helped me to better understand what it means to meditate on God's Word. Second, it helped me to really connect with the passage, and what David (the author) was communicating.
All of the sudden, I got this BIG desire to tell someone about the LORD. So as I was heading back, I was just thinking of who I should talk to. I was right by the ball park at this point (Whitecaps Stadium), and the game had just gotten out a few minutes before. I had been praying that God would give me the opportunity to talk to someone about Him. All of the sudden, these two kids, who were playing Frisbee, started yelling for me to come over and play. I chuckled, waived "hi" to them, and kept going. As I was walking though, I thought to myself, "Did I just miss an opportunity to share the word of God with someone?" Well, yes, I did. But I continued walking and praying for God to give me another chance to talk to someone. So as I continued walking, I walked past this man, who was walking quickly the opposite direction. As he passed, I said hi. Now, after having said no to the first people I walked by at the ball field, I for sure ran this guy down and started talking to him right? Uhhhh...no. I again thought to myself, "What am I doing? God gave me two opportunities, and I missed them both." So I kept going. At this point I was less than a half mile from home. I was frustrated at myself, because I thought I kept missing opportunities to talk to others about God. Which is true, I absolutely missed those two opportunities.
At this point, I am almost desperate. I am pleading with God, "please, give me the strength and courage to tell someone about you." So I thought, where can I go to talk to someone about Christ? I kept walking, and got to the American Legion building by my house. I saw a lot of people outside by the tables, a couple people by a vehicle, and then one person standing all alone in front of the door. So I said, this is it. I am going to go talk to him. So what did I do? I allowed the work of the Spirit to lead me. I walked up to the man, and started talking to him. We started off small talk, talking about the car show that the American Legion's group had that day, and then started talking about him. I was completely amazed by his openness. He started telling me about all of the things that were frustrating about life and what things he was going through.
At the end of the conversation, he gave me his phone number, and told me to call sometime. I cannot believe how open he was. He even told me that he wants me to pray for him.
This opportunity taught me so much. For one, God gave me everything I asked for. I prayed that he would give me opportunities, and He did. Twice in fact, I just didn't have the courage to take advantage of those. I truly believe that I could have (and maybe even should have) talked to those first two people I passed, and God would have been thrilled. But I also believe that God used the situation to teach me about the power of prayer. We need to learn not just to pray to God for things, but to know what to pray for. We need to know our weaknesses. It took two times of failing, before I realized that opportunities were all around me. What I really needed was courage.
I really like what Paul says though about weakness. He says in 2 Corinthians 12 that "My [God's] power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast in my weakness. It was made evident that my weakness that night was courage, but through the strength of God, I was able to overcome my weakness.
So do answer the question in the title, I would say it is clear that this was not a coincidence. God chose that one person for me to talk to. It wasn't just some person who happened to be standing outside one night. It was that specific person, that I could talk to, so I could learn, and so that I could begin building a relationship with someone who is a complete stranger to me, but is no stranger to the LORD.
Little side-note in the story: lately I have been trying to focus and understand what it means to meditate on God's Word.
As I was walking, I decided that I would just start reading scripture verses out loud. I opened up to Psalms, and started reading. This time of reading scripture out loud made Scripture very real to me. There is something about reading it out loud that makes it much more meaningful. This helped me in two ways. First, it helped me to better understand what it means to meditate on God's Word. Second, it helped me to really connect with the passage, and what David (the author) was communicating.
All of the sudden, I got this BIG desire to tell someone about the LORD. So as I was heading back, I was just thinking of who I should talk to. I was right by the ball park at this point (Whitecaps Stadium), and the game had just gotten out a few minutes before. I had been praying that God would give me the opportunity to talk to someone about Him. All of the sudden, these two kids, who were playing Frisbee, started yelling for me to come over and play. I chuckled, waived "hi" to them, and kept going. As I was walking though, I thought to myself, "Did I just miss an opportunity to share the word of God with someone?" Well, yes, I did. But I continued walking and praying for God to give me another chance to talk to someone. So as I continued walking, I walked past this man, who was walking quickly the opposite direction. As he passed, I said hi. Now, after having said no to the first people I walked by at the ball field, I for sure ran this guy down and started talking to him right? Uhhhh...no. I again thought to myself, "What am I doing? God gave me two opportunities, and I missed them both." So I kept going. At this point I was less than a half mile from home. I was frustrated at myself, because I thought I kept missing opportunities to talk to others about God. Which is true, I absolutely missed those two opportunities.
At this point, I am almost desperate. I am pleading with God, "please, give me the strength and courage to tell someone about you." So I thought, where can I go to talk to someone about Christ? I kept walking, and got to the American Legion building by my house. I saw a lot of people outside by the tables, a couple people by a vehicle, and then one person standing all alone in front of the door. So I said, this is it. I am going to go talk to him. So what did I do? I allowed the work of the Spirit to lead me. I walked up to the man, and started talking to him. We started off small talk, talking about the car show that the American Legion's group had that day, and then started talking about him. I was completely amazed by his openness. He started telling me about all of the things that were frustrating about life and what things he was going through.
At the end of the conversation, he gave me his phone number, and told me to call sometime. I cannot believe how open he was. He even told me that he wants me to pray for him.
This opportunity taught me so much. For one, God gave me everything I asked for. I prayed that he would give me opportunities, and He did. Twice in fact, I just didn't have the courage to take advantage of those. I truly believe that I could have (and maybe even should have) talked to those first two people I passed, and God would have been thrilled. But I also believe that God used the situation to teach me about the power of prayer. We need to learn not just to pray to God for things, but to know what to pray for. We need to know our weaknesses. It took two times of failing, before I realized that opportunities were all around me. What I really needed was courage.
I really like what Paul says though about weakness. He says in 2 Corinthians 12 that "My [God's] power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast in my weakness. It was made evident that my weakness that night was courage, but through the strength of God, I was able to overcome my weakness.
So do answer the question in the title, I would say it is clear that this was not a coincidence. God chose that one person for me to talk to. It wasn't just some person who happened to be standing outside one night. It was that specific person, that I could talk to, so I could learn, and so that I could begin building a relationship with someone who is a complete stranger to me, but is no stranger to the LORD.
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