Divine Inconveniences

EVERY NOW AND THEN A SET OF “COINCIDENCES” HAPPEN that makes me gape in wonder at the loving God who orchestrates little details of an afternoon so that someone can find healing for a broken heart. Often it happens through a series of inconveniences that God allows, which prevents us from doing things according to our own plan, but works together for His. And then after my fretting and complaining about the inconvenience, I have to chuckle at my own naiveté and lack of understanding about the ways of God. OF COURSE, he’s using all these things for His purposes. He’s told us He’s doing that. But again and again we’re surprised.

But after the surprise, comes the wonder, the joy, and the knowledge that God is in control.

It Happened to Me

This happened to me one year at the International Christian Retailing Show, an event where publishers exhibit their books, and bookstore owners come to buy. Authors like me sometimes go also to meet with editors and submit book proposals.

After spending the day tromping up and down the long aisles of the Convention Center for a number of appointments and meetings, my high heels pinched at my toes, and my legs ached. I had just finished meeting with an editor of a publishing company about my latest book project, and now I was worn-out and ready for a break. It seemed a good time to phone my husband back too as we’d been missing each others’ calls all day.

Spotting a lone bench at the periphery of the booths, I made my way toward it and was about to sit down when I realized I was missing my purse. Speculating I had left it at the booth where I had just had my last appointment. I wearily wound my way back through the aisles, and, sure enough, discovered my purse next to the seat where I’d been sitting.

I retrieved it and made my way back to the bench only to find someone else sitting there.  More fatigued than ever, I wandered down several more aisles, looking for a place to rest until I finally found another vacant bench.  I sat and called my husband. He didn’t answer.

A Chance Encounter

A woman sat down beside me, and just to make conversation, I asked her if she owned a bookstore since that was generally true of most of the people there. She said she did and asked if I was a bookstore owner too. When I said I was an author, she asked what I’d written, but before I could give her an answer, my cell phone rang.  It was my husband. Not wanting to miss him again, I told her I needed to answer the call but she was welcome to look at my book. Then I grabbed a copy of Broken Heart on Hold from my bag and handed it to her.

As I spoke to my husband, I noticed the woman poring over the book, reading the back copy and the table of contents, flipping through the pages, and perusing several selections.

When I hung up the phone, the woman turned to me and said with great delight and a sense of amazement. “This is the book I’ve been looking for.”

Puzzled by her comment, I asked her what she meant.

Before she came to the retail show, she explained, a woman had come into her bookstore looking for a book to help her cope spiritually with her situation and offer encouragement.  Her husband had left her, and she was devastated.

The bookstore owner told her she didn’t know of such a book, but since she was going soon to the retail show where every Christian publisher displayed their books, she promised to find what the woman needed. Then she prayed to be able to fulfill her promise. Unhappily though, as she went from one publisher’s booth to another, she had not as yet found anything appropriate.

And so God orchestrated the strange maneuverings of our chance encounter, with me forgetting my purse, having sore feet, and not finding a place to sit, then beginning an offhand conversation with a stranger, which was interrupted by a phone call from my husband. All of this resulted in my responding to her question by handing her my book.

On her end, as she had approached the bench where I was sitting, she intended to take the seat behind me, but when someone intervened to take it first, she instead sat next to me where she “just happened” to discover the book she was praying to find.

So at the end of the day, a heart found help for healing, and I was reminded never to underestimate how intimately God’s love works in our lives to bind up the wounds of the brokenhearted.

“Look at the birds of the sky; they don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they?” Matt 6:26

“For we know that all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose.”  Romans 8:28 

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Comments

  1. Love when a God plan comes together! Isnt it amazing how God knows what people to put in our path at the right time. Something similair happened to a friend of mine also at a convention.. He left his umbrella at a local mall he had ate at came back to retrieve it the next day in hopes it would be there.. Of course it was not ,decided to grab some lunch while he was there. he ended up sharing a table with a man from korea because it was crowded . My friend ended up leading this man to Jesus. All over a left umbrella… Not just any umbrella … God s umbrella..

  2. Linda Rooks says

    I love it. I’ll bet we all have stories like that. God’s coincidences.

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