A God Appointment
This week a friend of mine came up to give me an update on another friend who was going through a difficult stretch. I said, “Why don’t we call her up and you and I will go pray with her tomorrow over this situation?” As it turned out, my friend and I could not come up with a time that worked for both of us so we ended up taking separate paths. She said she’d call her to tell her she was thinking about her. I said I’d drop her an e-mail.
The next morning, I had a meeting at church with one of our pastors, but realized I had gotten something red all over my hands that required immediate attention. I went to the closest bathroom, which happened to have the door open, and washed my hands. While cleaning up, I heard a familiar voice and turned around to see the friend who was going through the trial; the same one we wanted to pray with! She happened to be at the church the exact time I was and happened to see me in the bathroom. I started to tell my friend about how we wanted to come pray with her, and how it did not work out, when I stopped in mid-sentence and said, “but here you are!” I realized at that moment this was a God appointment. While I was unable to go to her house to pray over her, God brought her to me. My eyes began to well up and I said, “Could we pray for your situation right now?” So there in the women’s bathroom, with the door wide open, my friend and I held hands and prayed for victory in this trial and that the truth would prevail.
There is a verse from Proverbs 16:9 which fits so well here, “The human mind plans the way, but the Lord directs the steps.” I know the Lord directed my steps and I wonder now if he even put that red stuff all over my hands so he could use me that morning! I still don’t know where it came from!
Interestingly enough, my meeting with the pastor was postponed. I showed up at the office and found out she was not able to come in that morning. It became even clearer to me that I was at the church for my God assignment, to pray for my friend, who that day needed to feel support from the body of Christ. I love the way the Lord leads us, don’t you? We just have to ask him to make us aware of the God appointments in our life so we don’t miss them!