How To Never Miss An Appointment

There is this word I have always loved. Serendipity. Isn't that a cool word? Saying it makes me feel all intellectual and stuff. I looked it up and it means: the faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for. Great word. Too bad I don't completely believe in it. What I mean to say is that I think it is a word that was made up to try to explain something that can't be logically explained. Well thankfully, dear readers, I am here to clear this up for you because I have figured out that serendipity is really what happens when God steps into your daily life and uses events and people to shake things up and answer prayers. I know what some of you are thinking. Here she goes again with the whole God and miracles and faith thing. That's okay, go ahead and roll your eyes and get it over with but stay with me for a minute while I give you some examples of what I'm talking about that are hard to argue with.

In a post last year, I explained about our struggles with infertility. Here's a recap. We lived in Corpus Christi, Tx and were trying to figure out how to finance and carry out an attempt at IVF (In vitro fertilization). Our insurance didn't cover the cost (about $20,000) and the closest clinic was in San Antonio. Late one night, I was messing around on the computer and discovered that only a handful of states had mandatory insurance coverage for IVF. I was bummed to say the least, but I never stopped praying for God to make a way. One day I randomly said to David "Hey, I know...we could just pack up and move to Massachusetts and then it would all be paid for! Hahahahaha!!" At that point moving to Massachusetts was about as likely a probability for us as moving to Mars. Seriously. No reason to even consider it. And yet...3 weeks later David got a totally random call (he was not looking to change jobs) from a headhunter who said he had thought of David for a potential job opportunity but thought he probably wouldn't be interested because it was in (you guessed it...) MASSACHUSETTS! David got the job and in an act of blind obedience and childlike faith, we moved to Massachusetts. Two cycles of IVF and 3 babies later we were convinced of the power of a 'divine appointment'. Not only that but David is still employed with that company 10 years later. Serendipity? I think not. (If you'd like, you can read the entire story here:  http://livinglikekingsburys.blogspot.com/2010/02/okay.html

I could share countless other stories like this but one is fresh in my mind and is actually what inspired this post to begin with. It's on my mind because it just happened yesterday. What strikes me the most about what happened is how many weird mishaps had to come together with perfect precision in order for the divine appointment to take place and bear the unbelievable fruit that it did. I left this divine appointment forever changed and I'm thinking it might have been the same for the person with whom the appointment took place. First of all, yesterday was a typical blur of activity around here. Mattie and Michael were invited to participate in the "See you at the Pole" event at their school. Michael shared a statement of faith and Mattie recited a prayer. So precious. Right after that I had a volunteer meeting and then had to race home to meet the glass repair guys. As I walked over to the window to check out the repair, out of the corner of my eye, I 'happened' to notice a paper on the table that looked like an incomplete piece of homework that belonged to Michael. I was annoyed because Michael has a habit of forgetting things and I have to make a lot of trips up to the school to bail him out and besides, I had just left there!

I came so close to just blowing it off but something kept compelling me to take it up there. I was unaware of the time and just drove up to the school to tell the teacher to be sure he sat out at recess to get his work done. I walked down the hall to Michael's classroom only to find out that the paper in question was NOT homework and that I had accidentally arrived just in time for lunch. Both kids saw me in the hall and begged me to go to lunch with them. Not in my plans at all. Still, I was there and decided to have lunch with them even though I usually eat with them on Fridays. We picked a table we don't normally sit at and it was there that my attention was drawn to a striking woman at the end of the table and I started making conversation with her in the noisy cafeteria. After lunch was over and the kids went back to class, she and I were still talking and the conversation took a serious and very personal turn. I won't go into the details but we sat through 3 lunch periods in the corner of a noisy cafeteria; two women, virtual strangers brought together by shared experiences, and I poured into her and she blessed me and it was unbelievable the things we shared with one another. I was put in that lunchroom at exactly the right time and so was she. I walked away in a daze, my mind whirling with the transforming and healing power of God!

I know you must have had similar encounters and events in your own lives. We all do but I don't think for a minute that they are a random phenomenon or accident. Serendipity my foot! God is an on purpose God. If you are tuned in and are obedient to His directed whisperings into your spirit, you will never, ever have to miss an opportunity for a divine appointment. How cool is that?

Blessings,

~Cat