A “divine appointment” is
when you cross paths with someone and you know, without a doubt, that God
orchestrated it for a very specific purpose. I had one of these today.
Today we went into downtown Galway to
help clean up the city and interact with some of the Irish folks.
Michelle, Jodi, Patch and I decided we would check out a coffee shop and try to
talk with people there. We got kind of lost and ran into a tough looking
biker guy who was hanging outside the bar he works out because his boss was
late. Coincidence? I think not… Anyways, we talked with him
for about an hour about everything under the sun…the weather, the maze of
tunnels underneath Galway (which we think he is pulling our leg since no other
Irish person we know has heard of this), the horse races, oyster season, and
finally religion. He claimed he was an atheist who believed in a
“higher power” (which would make him agnostic…we decided to not correct
him at this point…maybe it was the amount of tattoos or maybe it was because he
wouldn’t stop talking, one will never know). He had lots of questions
about Christianity…some we answered and some were left untouched. Jodi
brought up God and the joy that we have through a relationship with Him which
turned him off. We were able to chat a bit more regarding religion and
God but the conversation was cut short. A seed was planted though.
We headed on to our favorite Christian
coffeehouse that a bunch of people from Discovery Church work at for a quick
bite to eat. I quickly checked my email and found one from my friend
Marnie who sent me a list of 4 things that she was praying for that day.
Number 4? That I would have a divine appointment today. It was
funny because I had been praying for that same thing yesterday at
worship…that God would show up in a big way, in a way only explained by
him. On the bus ride home after our day of ministry, I found out that
Michelle had been praying the exact same prayer.
After lunch, Michelle and I decided we
would try to find a youth cafe that we saw that morning when we got lost.
We found it, chatted with the owner for a bit and decided we would stick around
and color. (Turns out we both love to color! Our moms raised us
well.) We asked one of the volunteers for crayons and paper and she
promptly invited us to sit at her table and enjoy some tea with her while we
colored. She was a lovely girl and we chatted with her and her friend for
a while, sharing what we were doing with them. They both had to get going
so Michelle and I were left to our paper and crayons. After a few minutes
we were joined by another girl, around our age. We started up a
conversation with her and began to get to know her. The topic of religion
and faith came up. She told us that she was born and raised Catholic but
a while back somebody asked her what she believed and she realized she was
atheist. This brought up a whole host of questions on our part…what does
she believe about Creation and Evolution, why are we here on Earth, what
happens when you die…all the tough questions. She confessed to us that
this is the first time that she had a conversation about her faith.
Wow! The first time in 24 years! She seemed to be really thinking
about her answers and she didn’t really seem to know all of the answers.
When we left, Michelle gave her a card with Discovery Church’s information and
her email address in case she wanted to talk about it further. There was
no immediate change of heart but we can pray that God keeps her wrestling
through these questions until she comes out with the true answers…the ones
that lead toward Him.
I am just floored how God created this
divine appointment. It is beyond a doubt that this had God’s hand all
over it…between the prayers of Marnie, Michelle and I, the fact that we got
lost this morning and saw the youth cafe, and that this girl just happened to
stop in at the cafe while we were there. Praise God for His answered
prayers, for His divine encounters, and for just being the Alminghty, All
Knowing Creator. Please be praying for this girl…for answers to her
questions, for more Christians to flood into her life and for her heart to
change.
Other things you can be praying for:
-continued prayer for the weather…the
past 3 days have been great except for the intense wind at night. Pray
that the rain stays away…especially next Tuesday when we try to pack up our
tents!
-a positive transition out of ministry
in Ireland. Our ministry will be done this weekend so it will be our
first set of goodbyes to ministry and contacts.
-health for our squad. Between
the rain, cold and wind sickness is starting to flood our squad…pray for
health to flood into each person.
-continued prayer for emotional and
physical transition onto the race. To be honest, this has been much
harder than I thought it would be. It’s probably a combination of
sleeping in a tent (because I am SO not a camper) and the weather, in addition
to the fact that I’m away from my family, bed and wardrobe but any prayer would
be nice. 🙂
I would love to pray for anyone who
would like it so please don’t hesitate to contact me! I hope you all are
doing well. Miss and LOVE you all!
Big hugs.
