Sometimes…

Sometimes, I don’t want to talk with people. Sometimes, I just want to study, plan and write without interruption or conversation or distraction. Sometimes, I just want to NOT be bothered.

Today, that didn’t happen.

Today, I met a friend for coffee and conversation. I always enjoy our conversations (and actually wanted to have this one). But then, when my friend left, I just wanted to sit outside in the shade and read/write/dream/plan/pray… Normally I can do that without too much of an issue. So I went outside and began to sit down.

And then I did it. I casually commented to the woman sitting at another table that it was a good place to sit and do some work. She had a laptop and coffee and it looked like she was engrossed in her work.

Well, it turned into a full hour of conversation and I didn’t get any of “my work” done. Thing is, I have a sneaking suspicion I got God’s work done. I have a sneaking suspicion that the “appointment” with my friend for coffee was just a ploy to get me in God’s place at God’s time for God’s intended encounter.

Funny how that happens if we listen to the Spirit isn’t it?

I hadn’t planned on having any more conversation. I had an entire bag of things to do. Really, I did! Instead, I met a woman with a story that I needed to hear. And in the process, I had my own prayer from this morning answered.

Sometimes, God answers our prayers in the most unexpected of ways. My unexpected (and undesired) conversation this morning was all about healing. It was all about the healing we find through faith in Jesus Christ – mind, body and spirit. It was about loving God, loving others and loving ourselves. Sure, the woman and I see some things in this world VERY differently. We fall on different sides of many issues. But we both agree on faith in Jesus Christ and the need to be that love in the world around us.

I know it was a God-appointed conversation. Sometimes we wonder how people “know” God is in something. This is how I know God appointed this conversation: 1) As we were talking, I though of a specific story in the Bible and at the moment that story popped into my head, my conversation partner made verbal reference to that exact same story. 2) As I began to share an online resource so we could together look at the greek (I simply said “Can we look up something on your computer?”), my conversation partner asked “Is it Blue Letter Bible?” – the EXACT resource I was going to mention. Yes, we were two gathered together and God was with us.

Sometimes, God designs our days differently that we design them. And should we listen to the promptings of the Spirit, our day may just turn out better than we hoped.

Oh, and P.S. – she’s a freelance writer. Remember when I said I had the writing itch again…