Little God Moments
Have you ever met a stranger and just knew God orchestrated that meeting? After you meet them you think to yourself, this was a little God moment because God doesn’t do anything by chance, everything He does is for a greater purpose. This happened to me this week.
After an encouraging and exciting time at the Ohio Christian Writing Conference, I turned right around and traveled to Bethesda, Maryland for my 12th visit to the National Institutes of Health, (NIH). Even though I was exhausted from learning so many writing golden nuggets at the conference, I was excited to make this trip to Maryland to learn more golden nuggets about my rare gene mutation, MAGIS Syndrome. Most people wouldn’t enjoy going to a place where the usual each morning is having 15-20 tubes of blood drawn from their veins, but I do because the more I hear new information about my disease, God gives me not only closure but shows me what I have gone through hasn’t been in vain.
On Monday I was eating lunch with my parents in the NIH cafeteria and my mom and I began to randomly talk about Asbury University. I graduated from the college in 2012 and it’s my parents Alma Mater as well. Suddenly a man appeared at our table and began speaking to us, “I’ve walked past this table a couple of times and noticed you keep repeating a certain word and that word is Asbury. Did you guys go there?”
“Yes!,” I exclaimed. “I graduated in 2012.”
“Well I’m John and I graduated in 2007. I worked in the admissions office while you were a student there.”
“Oh cool! Lisa Harper who was the Admissions Director was my mentor.”
His face gave off that “aha!” expression when someone figures something out. “I knew you looked familiar to me!”
What led after that became two old Asburians talking about the good old days and became new friends. I was able to share my story and how God has given me MORE and he explained he was a chaplain and on an Institutional Review Board. Before we parted ways he told me he’d keep me in his prayers as I continued on this medical journey.
This encounter brought so much joy to my heart because I would have never dreamt I would have met someone who went to Asbury in the NIH cafeteria of all things! I began to think, what are the odds that my parents and I were in the cafeteria at the same time he was and he walked past our table as my mom and I were talking about our school? The truth of the matter is there isn’t any odds, but there is a God. Romans 8:28 says And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. I may never see John again, only feeling his prayers or someday our paths may cross again for another God orchestrated encounter. The reason as to why God allowed us to meet is uncertain and I may never know why it happened this side of Heaven. But here’s what I do know: this was a little God moment that had a good purpose.
So here’s my prayer for you— as you travel on this journey I hope you have the same “aha!” expression like John had when he recognized me because you recognize what you just witnessed was a little God moment. I pray that you have many experiences like this as God continues to write your story. For it’s when we witness those little God moments we know He isn’t finished with us yet.
