Tonight I was able to see up close and personal how God put four woman together in one Starbucks at the right time. The perfect set-up.
It started with several weeks ago when I was suppose to go to the chiroproactor. Even though I go every week, I wasn't planning on going because there was a substitute as my regular guy was on vacation. But I tweaked something...So off I went. (God uses all things for good.) I usually go on Tuesdays but because of the vacation I went on Thursday. She was a bit behind so I ended up chatting it up with a lady named Cindy.** She has some health issues, I said I would pray for her and we went our separate ways. Something told me I should get her number or email- but I didn't- because that would have been strange. right?
Yesterday I was meeting a friend at the bookstore for coffee. I have known her for about a year but never really had the chance to sit down and chat with her. Funny- we have a ton in common. We are both the oldest of three and married the youngest of five. We both struggle with self esteem issues. We both card cataloged our books when we were kids. Our husbands are similar...our moms are similar. Her mom's name is Cathy, mine is Carol. Her dad's name is Joe, mine is John. There is more... but I won't bore you with it. Let's call her Sue. On the way into the bookstore, I was thinking that I should invite her to our new small group Bible Study we were starting. But I forgot. Somewhere in the middle of the conversation she mentioned how she'd like to find a woman's small group. Thanks for the reminder God :) So she planned on joining us tonight.
So tonight was suppose to be me, Sue and two other friends. One ended up not making it and three of us met at Barnes and Noble. I didn't know they close on Sunday at 8 pm. So we tootled our way down to Starbucks to continue. (If we hadn't met at B&N first we probably would have met at a totally different restaurant and stayed there.) Me and my friend B went to get a coffee and we looked back to see Sue talking with someone. Sue talks with everyone and makes friends easily..but as I got closer I noticed it was Cindy from the chiropractor!!! Apparently she noticed we were reading Captivating, and Sue noticed she was reading the Bible. So we invited her to join our conversation. And it was sooooo all about God. The women in the group are all married with kids and Cindy is single. It is exactly the right perspective. We provide insight to her and she provides it to us. Yet we are all WOMEN and in need of the Captivating study right now. It is amazing that although I had met these 3 women before, they did not know each other. And 48 hours ago our group of gals was different. But God arranges things as he sees fit and when we listen to Him great things happen. And he can even MAKE interactions happen even when we don't listen to Him. You can say it was all coincidence, but these ladies will testify that there was NO coincidence in any of this. The funny thing is that I have been in groups where it takes MONTHS if not YEARS to open up but tonight amazing things happened and we were able to minister to each other in the moment. So I am looking forward to the rest of our reading and study.
Another interesting thing that dawned on me later is that just that morning I was praying that God would put 'life-givers' in my life and that I would be that for others. The prayer came from a book I am reading called, Blessing Your Spirit by Sylvia Gunter and Arthur Burk. It wasn't that I didn't have friends who were life giving but my spirit was asking for something different. And He provided exceedingly abundantly above all I asked or imagine.
Oh and Cindy has her own story on how she 'happened' to be at Starbucks right at that time. But that's not my story to tell. Just know that it is woven into the entire picture.
*** I am not sure the women in my group would be fine with me telling their real names seeing as I just met one of them so I will change them to protect the innocent.
So tonight was suppose to be me, Sue and two other friends. One ended up not making it and three of us met at Barnes and Noble. I didn't know they close on Sunday at 8 pm. So we tootled our way down to Starbucks to continue. (If we hadn't met at B&N first we probably would have met at a totally different restaurant and stayed there.) Me and my friend B went to get a coffee and we looked back to see Sue talking with someone. Sue talks with everyone and makes friends easily..but as I got closer I noticed it was Cindy from the chiropractor!!! Apparently she noticed we were reading Captivating, and Sue noticed she was reading the Bible. So we invited her to join our conversation. And it was sooooo all about God. The women in the group are all married with kids and Cindy is single. It is exactly the right perspective. We provide insight to her and she provides it to us. Yet we are all WOMEN and in need of the Captivating study right now. It is amazing that although I had met these 3 women before, they did not know each other. And 48 hours ago our group of gals was different. But God arranges things as he sees fit and when we listen to Him great things happen. And he can even MAKE interactions happen even when we don't listen to Him. You can say it was all coincidence, but these ladies will testify that there was NO coincidence in any of this. The funny thing is that I have been in groups where it takes MONTHS if not YEARS to open up but tonight amazing things happened and we were able to minister to each other in the moment. So I am looking forward to the rest of our reading and study.
Another interesting thing that dawned on me later is that just that morning I was praying that God would put 'life-givers' in my life and that I would be that for others. The prayer came from a book I am reading called, Blessing Your Spirit by Sylvia Gunter and Arthur Burk. It wasn't that I didn't have friends who were life giving but my spirit was asking for something different. And He provided exceedingly abundantly above all I asked or imagine.
Oh and Cindy has her own story on how she 'happened' to be at Starbucks right at that time. But that's not my story to tell. Just know that it is woven into the entire picture.
*** I am not sure the women in my group would be fine with me telling their real names seeing as I just met one of them so I will change them to protect the innocent.
2 comments:
Amen. Amen. Amen.
I love stories like this. God is so good.
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