Intersections and God Orchestrated Moments

God has a crazy way of intersecting people’s lives. It never ceases to amaze me and leave me in complete awe. Today one of those intersections happened. Today, I re-connected with someone who God placed in my life 33 years ago.


Let’s take a trip down memory lane, shall we? At 12 years old, circumstances led to me being placed in the care of a babysitter who for the first time in my life took me to church. It was summer and there was a day camp. She asked if I wanted to go, and wanting something to do, I said yes. Enter George, youth pastor, into the life a very confused and frightened little girl.

Eventually, that little girl learned to trust this man and started to share some things with him, asking hard, probing questions. Questions that he was never trained to answer. Questions for which there really is no good answer. But answers he got, answers straight from the Holy Spirit to the core of that little girl’s heart. Answers that resonated and stayed with her in the darkest of days. Answers that spoke to the value that God placed on her life. Answers that only God could have provided. “You will walk through the fire and come out smelling like a rose,” George said with words that whispered hope into a heart broken. A rose that was a name unknown to George, but known intimately by God. A piercing look of his eyes into hers, a look that said, “I hurt for you, but the promise is that there is hope.” A look that resonated and stayed and whispered in the dark.

The man moved away with his family and the little girl’s world broke, shattered into a million shards – her hope was gone. But was it? No, those whispered words, the looks that saw the brokenness, the hands that held without hurting, without expecting more… the words remained even though the man was gone.

Many years passed. The little girl grew up and did really hard work. And in the midst of the dark places that she had to journey through, the words continued to whisper in her heart. And in the darkness, she held on to the words and saw light at the end of the tunnel and hope for the future. Hope that God had good plans for her, all because a man listened to the whisper of the Holy Spirit and reached out to connect his life with a hurting child.

One day, the woman decided she had to find this man who was such an important part of her life, who impacted her in ways she knew he could never imagine. A random Google search and a list of names. A heartfelt letter written to a name on a computer screen. In that crazy God way, her first attempt at contacting this man after so many years was rewarded. The name on the computer screen was indeed the George from her past. A long distance email relationship ensued, letters on a screen forming words, bridging lost time and forging a new relationship.

This youth pastor, now a counselor, kept her up to date on his continued work for the kingdom. She starts a new journey, as a volunteer counselor. This journey led to a step of faith to become licensed. Not knowing where this journey will lead, she follows the call placed on her heart. God reveals more and more of the past to her, always tempering the pain with hope, by being involved in the details as only He can. By showing her just exactly where He was during the darkest hours. By showing her His heart for the hurting and allowing her to grow by serving, by using her pain to show others the light and hope she had been given.

A funny thing happened to the woman. She realized that God had given her the same passion as the man who impacted her life so many years before. She pondered these things in her heart, giving them over to God, sharing his passion for the hurting, moving and inspiring her journey toward counseling.

A week long conference, an email saying she’d be somewhat close, could they meet. A tentative response with a maybe, schedules being what they are and all. He’d love to – if it could work out. The week was fast approaching and she, in her busyness of getting ready, forgot to email, forgot to remind him that the week was approaching. A last minute email saying she was going to be there in a few days. He had plans already, but they changed – he was going to be in the same town at the exact right time to meet.

A crazy, intersected life, only orchestrated by God thing!

The meeting that followed… indescribable. Sharing my heart with his, affirming that God did indeed use him powerfully. Thanking him for his obedience, his words, his life intersecting with mine. And a new possibility on the horizon.

God intersects our lives in ways we can never imagine. The lesson learned is that God knows the impact, I just need to follow in obedience. This meeting, like the ones so many years before, will reside in my heart and provides me with peace and joy that surpasses all understanding.

Bringing Jesus to Work

On Friday, God provided another super cool “God Thing” for me to focus on. Two of my girlfriends came to my classroom after school to help me hang posters, organize, collate, and file. First, even asking for help was a big deal, but what happened because of that is something only God could have orchestrated.

We were all busy working and chatting about both the important and the mundane. I kept thinking that my custodian was probably waiting for us to finish so she could come in and work. She popped her head in to check out what was going on and I told her it was fine if she came in to clean while we were working. She asked who my friends were and what we were doing. I told her that they came to help me get organized and that they were my accountability partners. She replied that accountability partners was a mouthful and said it was nice of them to come and help me. She cleaned up my desks and then left. Within seconds she was back saying, “Okay, you got me curious, I need to know what an accountability partner is.” I explained my take on what we did and then the girls added their input into exactly what it is we do together. As we talked, she came into the room and we all sat down on the top of the desks. She asked what church we went to and we told her LifePoint. She said that she goes there, thus creating an automatic connection. We talked about a lot of different things: her new marriage, biblical counseling, her take on women friends and how she did not like “hen parties” where women talk of nothing but meaningless comparisons. We talked about how God had brought the three of us together and that our accountability / friendship is based on being authentic and helping each other through life, that we don’t talk about other people or play the whole comparison game, and that we are each other’s support and truth tellers, even when it’s hard. She talked about how she might be interested in having women friends -- if it looked like that. We talked to her about ways she could get plugged into LifePoint. We shared our passion for helping each other and our passion for Jesus, as a relationship, not a religion. As she was leaving, I told her that she knew where I was and she was welcome to come and talk about anything, anytime. She sincerely thanked me and left. All of us were like, “Wow, that was awesome!” I could feel God in the midst of a public middle school classroom and I could see his hand in orchestrating the timing. We were supposed to meet at the park. I took a step of faith and asked my friends to come help me. God used that to touch one of his children. I am so blessed to have been a part of that.

Simply incredible. God orchestrated. Authentic moment.