Divine Appointments

 Pray for divine appointments for us to develop much needed friendships for all of us.

That was one of the requests that I blogged as I concluded my previous post. About an hour after hitting publish, I went into the kitchen to get lunch ready for James. I turned on the water...and there was nothing. Not even a trickle. I immediately thought there must be a mistake with the city in switching the water between owners. I called Stephen who was on his lunch break, and he said that he would call and see if they had cut it off by mistake. He called back and said they hadn't cut our water off, and that there must be a problem with our __________ (insert some technical name that I can't even remember now because I had started to go into "you can't be serious!" mode at this point in the conversation) and it would have to be replaced. He sent me outside to take a picture of the water meter on my phone to send to him, but that didn't help him. He talked about calling a plumber. I suggested I go see if the neighbors had water.

A few minutes later I was knocking on a door, I and was greeted by April and Louis, an elderly couple that beamed when they talked about their 16 grandchildren. They were kind, gracious, and offered me a pitcher of water and a soapy washcloth to wash James' hands before lunch. They told me they were Christians, and they invited us to visit their church sometime. James played with their little dog, Goliath (which gave me an opportunity to read that Bible story later that day). I came home so encouraged despite still trying to figure out the water situation. I called Stephen back and found out that after checking with the city a second time, they had, in fact, made a mistake and had never canceled the request to turn the water off from the previous owners and that they would be back to turn it on within an hour. I started to sob. I thanked God for turning that water off. I knew so clearly in that moment that it had all been a part of the divine appointment I had prayed for earlier that morning, and that He had heard my prayer. He had heard me. I've always known and believed that He had, but after going through a period when you feel like you're hoarse from asking "Do you still hear me?," It's overwhelming to hear His voice so clearly.

After dinner James wanted to play in our backyard. While I tried to round up his outdoor toys, James pointed out the neighbors two doors down playing "tennis" (badminton). They waved and we started to exchange conversation about the age of our children from a distance. I walked toward them to introduce myself, and we immediately struck up a conversation. I learned that they are a young couple with two little boys, one a little older and one a little younger than James. They told me that they are newer Christians, and God had called them to ministry and that the husband, Danny, is finishing an undergraduate degree in theology from a local school on a part-time basis. He works in a secular profession but that God has called him to be a pastor. I told them a little about us and our desire to finish seminary part-time and to serve in ministry as well. Michelle and I talked about our boys and about parenting. Walls started to come down as we began to learn of how similar our parenting journeys have been. We hugged outside in the yard, and I told her that she was an answer to prayer. She came by our house a few minutes later to offer her phone number and extend an invitation to her son's birthday party the next weekend. When she left, I cried again. I thanked God for this divine appointment and for placing this family on our street for as long as He would have them here. I thanked God for the potential friendship beginning with this family.

And then at church yesterday, God had our undivided attention again as we heard a message from Romans 7 regarding Paul's (and every Christian's) struggle between being controlled by our sinful nature and our desire to obey God. The pastor used the illustration of a renovated house (just like our house that was basically gutted inside and "flipped" by a contractor the month before we bough it!), to describe this struggle and how when God saves us He has not yet redeemed our flesh but that He gives us the Spirit of God to dwell in us. And the answer to this struggle, he said, Romans 8! (which I mentioned was my favorite passage of Scripture in my previous post.) Out of all the people in the church that day, and God spoke through this pastor with an illustration that related so perfectly to us! Clearly, God has our attention and I'm listening!

And then this morning while I drank my coffee and browsed the updated blogs on my list, I read this post on divine appointments. It almost makes me laugh. Could He be any clearer with His daughter? God obviously knows just how stubborn, resistant, and unaware I can be at times.

I am so thankful for your prayers for us. I am so thankful to have the privilege to be loved and heard by the Creator of the Universe. I am so thankful that His Word reminds me that: ¹⁴ This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. ¹⁵ And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him. 1 John 5:14-15.