Divine Appointments

Over the weekend I was outside helping my mother upkeep the yard.  It was a beautiful day and I was enjoying time outside.  While I was trimming shrubbery someone called to me from the street.  Turning around I saw my first art teacher walking towards the driveway with a her dog.  She had been out on a stroll, had spotted us working in the front yard, and crossed the street to say hello.   

I was happy to see her and we soon got to talking.  During our conversations that followed I learned that she will be retiring from teaching art after many, many years sharing her talent and knowledge in the same Christian school.  I was both happy and sad to hear of the transition soon to take place in her life.

She is the kind of teacher you never forget.  The kind that teaches because she loves it not just because she needs a job.  And as she shared, with a glowing smile, favorite memories I realized that it was no mistake she took a stroll that day.  It was no mistake that my mother and I were outside in the front yard.

You see I have been wrestling with some of the choices I have made in the past.  I have been burned out.  Just plain disappointed in how things have been going.  And as my old art teacher began to share frustrations and struggles she had faced, I realized I was not the only one.

But what touched me was even when she didn't know how things will work out she believed God would lead the way.  How sometimes we have to trust that when we are blindfolded the one who holds our hand can see just fine.  And its scary to put our lives in the hands of someone else.  But its never that way when God is leading us.

God is not human.  He can never fail.  He can never lie.  He can never drop a life He chose and picked up.  

My art teacher looked at me and said that God uses every experience we have.  Nothing is wasted with Him.  No one who puts their hope and trust in Him experiences a wasted life.  

Our conversation lasted quite a while. We laughed and cried and shared stories of God's protection and provision through difficult trials in life.  It was a time of spiritual rejuvenation!  And what made it so much more precious was that it was completely unplanned!  By us.  God knew we both needed to know we were not alone.  And God knew I needed to be encouraged by her testimony.

It was a divine appointment.  Plain and simple.  

" That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day.  For our present troubles are small and won't last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever." 

2 Corinthians 4: 16, 17