Sometimes we want to do things, but God has other plans for you. From the start of this week, I was a goal of mine to get to a bible study somewhere. I reorganized my schedule Tuesday to get the day off at my part-time job so I could go to bible study at this one church, but something in me was uneasy about it. After calling my mom and one of my linesisters, I got in the car and God just said I don’t want you to go…so instead, I went grocery shopping to make myself a salad. And do you not know, that was the best salad I ever made(smile)! So yesterday, I had every intention to go to bible study after work. I even finished up with my meeting a little early, but my best friend from work Kelly was actually in the office, so I went back inside to talk with her. And I felt the strong urge to just talk with her and catch up instead of going to bible study. So we went to Chili’s…mind you I had been there earlier for lunch. We talked for over three hours about everything. The relationship we have is just amazing, I only have a few friends that sharpen me spiritually like that, and for her I’m grateful. As we leave, we hug outside and I say, I wasn’t supposed to go to bible study, I’m sure I would have gotten something from it, but I feel refreshed. And in an instant, a car pulls up and the driver is screaming, ‘somebody help.’
Countless times in the Bible, God tells people the phrase “at the appointed time.” At the appointed time is where actions take place, where you do something or you don’t. As this woman drove up tonight, all I kept hearing was divine appointment, and that it was His will that we be there, walking out as that woman pulled up. Her 27-year-old daughter, who is 9 months pregnant and due next week, was having a seizure. My phone had died, so I told Kelly to call 911. The only thing I knew to do was pray, and pray I did. I didn’t know what words to say, so I just let God guide me in what to say…and the beauty of it was that I was calm in the midst, and available for His use…at the right time.
Divine appointments can occur anywhere. It does not matter the place or the time or the person you meet, but if you are a willing instrument, God will use you to bless someone else. Whether it is simply a hello, a smile, or a hug, God can work in and through you. Take Moses–the adopted grandson of Pharaoh, then a murderer with a speech problem. God used this man to deliver the children of Israel from slavery. Take Esther, one of my favorite women in the Bible, God used an adopted niece of a Jew who became Queen to save the entire population of Jews from their imminent slaughter at the hands of Haman. God used Paul, a well-known persecutor of the Jews to bring Jesus and salvation to the Gentiles!
I know God would have had someone else be there had Kelly and I not gone, because the mother was just calling on the name of Jesus. But I’m humbled, glad, excited, and overjoyed to have been there. God used someone like me, nobody more important that the next person. He had it so we had walked outside right before they pulled up. He made it so Kelly’s phone had battery life, when normally its the other way around. He made it so the paramedics were not far away. He made it so this young lady decided to stay with her parents versus staying in her own home alone that day. He made it so that I could learn that He can use me wherever I am…even if it is leaving Chili’s. In the midst, I was RIGHT ON TIME.
“There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven–” Ecclesiastes 3:1
Life Inspired By God 