Divine Encounter

Divine Encounter

“Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.”—Jeremiah 29:12  (ESV)

I am a firm believer that nothing in life is a coincidence. God is behind the scenes orchestrating for things to take place for our path to cross with the right person at the right time. I experienced one of these divine encounters from God this week.

When I met with my mother’s facility last month, the plan was for me to go back after my travels to go over her care plan and sign the paperwork as her medical POA. The best day for them was Wednesday morning at 8 am. Since I didn’t want to have to be on the road at 4 am to make the meeting, I drove in Tuesday afternoon so I could spend some time with my mom.

The meeting lasted longer than I had expected. I wasn’t back on the road until 10 am. My normal Wednesday schedule includes my knitting group and shopping at Aldi’s since it is a few doors down. There are certain items I only get at Aldi’s so if I don’t go to knitting, I don’t normally go there.

However, my daughter was coming in town over the weekend and there were a few items I wanted to get from there for her. After 3 ½ hours of driving, I just wanted to get home but since I pass by Aldi’s on my drive home, I figured I might as well stop so I didn’t have to go back the next day.

I only had a few items in my cart, so when I saw the woman go in front of me with a full cart, I was really hoping she would offer to let me go in front of her. She didn’t. I’m not going to lie and say I wasn’t a little put out that she didn’t ask. I really just wanted to get home. I was tired.

As she was checking out, it appeared she had some kind of gift card. After she scanned it, she had more in her cart than what was on the card. She asked what the cost was of the last items scanned. The cashier took them off and set them to the side.

When she started ringing me up, I asked, did she want those items? She shrugged that she didn’t know. It was 2 bottles of something like Pedialyte for adults. I said, put them on my bill.  She was still packing up her groceries. As I was leaving, I said, I thought you might need these so I bought them for you. She said, are you okay with hugs? I told her I was. She gave me the biggest heartfelt hug, that I knew it was the Holy Spirit that had prompted me to do what I did.

I went out to my car, loaded my groceries when I felt as if I wasn’t done. I knew I had a pocket prayer cross in my purse. As I was bringing my cart back, she was coming out of the store.

Hoping she wouldn’t think I was stalking her, I followed her to her car. I said, I knit gifts to give to people and I felt like I needed to give you this pocket prayer cross to let you know God loves you and He hears your prayers. I got chocked up saying it to her, because I could tell she was moved by it.

 She showed me her port and told me she was going through chemotherapy. She told me she had a treatment that day and I had no idea how much she needed this. She asked me my name and told me hers…Jamie. I have added Jamie to my prayers. Our paths may never cross again, but I look at how God orchestrated that meeting.

God knew what time I would be on the road and what time we would both be at Aldi’s so I could minister to someone who needed to know that God hears her prayers and He is with her. He loves her so much, He sent one of His children to let her know how much she means to Him.

I take no glory for what happened. Only God could put all the wheels in motion for that to take place. It wasn’t random chance or accidental. God coordinated these events to all fall in place. It all happened with God’s perfect timing. This wasn’t a coincidence but a result of the leading of the Holy Spirit.

The thing is that we all have the opportunity for these “divine appointments.” They can happen in a simple everyday routine such as grocery shopping. God can use us as an instrument to help fulfill His plan. As we go about our daily lives, we can look for opportunities where the Holy Spirit can work through us to be a light to someone else.

Only God knows when these divine encounters will occur, but we need to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s promptings. He will faithfully guide us toward moments of impact to make a difference in the life of someone else. By being alert for an opportunity to encourage someone, we help in the advancement of His Kingdom.

Father God,
Thank You for unexpected divine appointments. Keep my mind, heart, ears, and eyes attentive to situations around me in which Your purposes and plans can be accomplished through me for the advancement of Your Kingdom. Ready my soul to allow the Holy Spirit to work through my words and actions to those I encounter this week. I lift those up to You who are going through chemotherapy treatments. May You put someone in their pathway to bless them with hope and encouragement. I pray these things in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

October Verse

“Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ.”—Colossians 2:8 (NLT)

If you are knitting or crocheting gifts to give away, please make sure you tweet @KnitPrayShare or share your projects on the Knit, Pray, Share Facebook page or Instagram using the hashtag #KnitPrayShare. Be sure to attach a tag to whatever gift you make.     

Standing Firm

“So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.”—2 Thessalonians 2:15

2 Thessalonians 2:15, was an encouragement for me this week to hold firmly to biblical teachings and remain steadfast in my faith. Four years ago, I wrote a similar post called, Standing Firm in Your Faith using 1 Corinthians 16:13; “Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.” As I read these words I had written, When we have an opportunity to witness but choose to stay silent, we are denying God, I knew I needed to write about this.

Writing last week’s post, I knew there was the possibility that I could lose some followers by offending them by calling one of the candidate’s running for the US Senate in the state of Texas an Unconventional Christian. However, I felt led by the Holy Spirit to address it.

I did offend along with getting a response on social media with the video of him speaking on the Texas House floor stating God was nonbinary. Along with the video they responded that what he meant was God was nongender along with explaining since they didn’t have a great earthly father, the thought of God being a loving parent and not a certain gender made all the difference in them being able to believe in God.

My initial response was, I have seen this video, thank you for your perspective. I didn’t plan on responding any more about it. I was quickly convicted to not stay silent. So, I prayed, prayed, prayed and did some research about it.

Since this is someone I at one time attended the same church, I wanted to make sure maybe I wasn’t missing something. The next morning, I woke up to Psalm 55:22 “Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.” After reading this verse, I felt stronger about standing firm.

I’m going to be honest; I really didn’t want to reach out to them again about this. It is much easier to let life go on and let them have their views and tell myself; This is between them and God (which it is). However, God impressed on my heart to be a voice that might give them pause to think about what I send them about God Our Father.

In a nutshell I told them that we could agree to disagree on this topic and how I struggled on whether to respond but was convicted by the Holy Spirit that it grieved His heart to not stand up for His Truth found in scripture. I let them know I had prayed and sought godly counsel to make sure I wasn’t missing something the Bible said about this topic.

I referenced a few scriptures where God is repeatedly called, Father as well as Jesus exclusively addressing God as Father and teaching us to do the same. Also, the Hebrew and Greek pronouns used for God are masculine. The second person of the Trinity is the Son. I don’t think the Bible’s consistent use of Father/He/Son are inaccurate or optional.

It isn’t up to man to change God’s character to fit a mindset to make us feel better. I wanted to be sensitive of their hurt from their earthly father. So I went on and said; God, our Father, can heal us beyond our own human reasoning and elevate our mindsets to His perfect will. We live in a fallen broken world where earthly fathers fail us, but our Heavenly Father never will.

I ended it with it was okay for us not to be in agreement about this because the Bible also commands us to love others which includes being tolerant of other’s views or mindsets and that I have plenty of friends on social media that have much different views than mine. In love, while we may not agree, we respect each other’s opinions.

I don’t expect a response. They may not read what I wrote. For all I know they could have blocked me on social media. But I know that silence on this matter on my part would have been a sin. In courage and faith God works through those who stand on the truth of His Word. I am not going to apologize for calling out a public figure for watering down the Gospel. There is historical evidence that Jesus was a real person…a man. He was not nonbinary or nongender.

Jesus’ own words in John 14:19 are: Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show him to you?(NLT) Jesus clearly states He is in complete unity with God the Father.

Of course, the enemy wants me to keep my mouth shut. His desire is to discourage me from writing about topics that might offend. I’m not going to lie. I did question if I should keep doing this. I know I can’t let fear of man keep me from speaking up about things that clearly go against what scripture teaches us.

2 Timothy 4:3-4 tells us: For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will reject the truth and chase after myths. I didn’t think I was going to witness it this much in my lifetime. However, Christians are being persecuted, mocked and labeled as intolerant or a “Christian Nationalist” for speaking the truths taught in the Bible.

Shrinking back and going along with making the Bible more pleasing to the world isn’t an option for me. Picking and choosing what scriptures we want to believe because it makes us feel better isn’t how we lead others to salvation found only through Jesus Christ.

The day I meet my Heavenly Father, I don’t want to have to answer, why didn’t you stand up for Me and My Word? So, while I may lose more followers with posts like this, I cling to 2 Thessalonians 2:15 by standing firm in my faith and holding fast to the teachings in the Bible. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.” – 2 Timothy 3:16

Father God,
Protect my heart against the enemy’s lies to stay silent when Your Word is watered down to make it more pleasing to the world. May my heart remain tethered to You and the truths found in Your Word and not be influenced by the world’s interpretation of who You are. I ask for You to give grace to those who are doubting who You are. Open their eyes to Your truth found in scripture. I ask for strength and courage to continue to be bold in my faith and not be discouraged when I am persecuted for it. I pray these things in the name of Your Precious Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.

October Verse

“Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ.”—Colossians 2:8 (NLT)

If you are knitting or crocheting gifts to give away, please make sure you tweet @KnitPrayShare or share your projects on the Knit, Pray, Share Facebook page or Instagram using the hashtag #KnitPrayShare. Be sure to attach a tag to whatever gift you make.