I am off work today. I hadn’t planned to be off. Yesterday, on the way home from work, I was rear-ended. Thankfully, even though there is damage to the car, it is drivable and will be repaired. However, due to some pain, I decided to stay at home and rest, along with taking some over-the-counter pain medication as well as heat/ice.
I was grateful for the pause but decided to use some of my downtime to complete a couple “paperwork” projects. Soon, I found myself calling support staff for assistance. I anticipated having to wait on hold for a while, but I was connected with a staff member almost immediately. The staff member was quite helpful and walked me through the process.
Near the end of the hour-long call, the staff member asked me if she could ask me a question. I said, sure, expecting to get the “Do you mind taking a short survey” question. Earlier in our conversation, she’d asked me a question, and I answered it with a little extra detail to help her understand why I was calling in the first place. The extra detail I offered turned out to be the prompt the woman needed to hear to open up about her personal life.
She shared a personal situation she and her family were experiencing and asked me to share how I maneuvered through the same circumstances. I was honored and shared a few highlights (and lowlights) of my journey, encouraging her and her family to continue their pursuit. We conversed for a few more minutes and then hung up.
But I was once again reminded that unexpected twists and turns in life are orchestrated by God and engage them to serve multiple purposes. The Lord used me being rear-ended yesterday to position me to be home today to do the paperwork that would connect me to the woman who needed to be encouraged by my experience some ten years prior.
Sometimes, we’re blessed to see the seemingly unrelated pieces of life come together to produce a glorious tapestry of God’s handiwork. Other times, we remain in the dark, completely unaware of the importance of our placement, comments, actions, and diversions in God’s grand scheme of our ordinary days.
But whether we see them in the clarity of perceived truth (like Jacob, who misunderstood everything about that bloody coat), sit in the dankness of prison-like circumstances, or utilize our giftings in an environment set just for us, it’s all planned and purposed by God.
10 But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. Job 23:10 (KJV)
9 Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: Isaiah 46:9-10 (KJV)
In the Master’s Service,
Author/Pastor Michele D Robertson
28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
Matthew 11:28-29 (KJV)