Saturday, March 25, 2017

Amazing Divine Appointments

divine apointment n. An apparently coincidental encounter or event that has actually been caused by God for a specific purpose. This purpose may be obvious during the encounter or may become apparent only sometime later.*  

In big and small ways - God's sovereignty has been displayed the past 25 days, and it's been so neat to see!  One of those particular ways is how He so precisely arranges conversations with the right people at the right time at PP.  He knows EXACTLY who needs to be there at PP during that exact moment when a specific question or comment is raised from drivers or people passing by! Thank you Lord!

Here are a few examples!

One cloudy afternoon my dad was out alone praying at PP.  He was holding a 40 Days for Life sign (pray to end abortion) and also had a yard sign stuck in the ground around the corner.  A youngish man walked past him and turned the corner, then stopped at the yard sign and began reading it.  He stood there for quite a while looking at it, rubbing his chin and contemplating something to say. He continued to stand there, as if he wanted dad to notice him.  Well, knowing my dad, he wasn't going to let a possible opportunity to talk pass him by!! :-) Dad walked over and said something to him about the weather to open up any conversation if the man wanted to talk.  The man responded, "Well I have 1 question for you... how many have YOU adopted?"  My dad smiled and replied kindly, "Well we've adopted four!....how about you?"  :-)  You could see the wind fall out of the man's sails as he brought up another common pro-abortion point. My dad continued to have a great conversation with him - all with gentleness and respect as 1 Peter 3:15 tells us. What are the chances that that man would walk by at the moment my dad was there - one who had personally adopted children and was prepared to answer his first objection! Praise God for His wisdom!

Another example was one of my mom that I mentioned awhile back in a post.  My mom is so amazing with the kids, and most of the time is "holding down the fort" at home.  So the times she is able to join us at PP are sometimes few and far between - as much as she would like to be out there more!!  Well she "happened" to be standing there on the street corner at EXACTLY the right moment and in EXACTLY the perfect position for a driver who stopped at the red light on Yew. St.  The couple rolled down the side window and the passenger asked, "What about the 'crack' babies?"  (Meaning the babies exposed to drugs in utero) To which my mom responded with a smile, "Well, we have four of them in our home.  Just because they may be affected by drugs gives no reason to take their lives."  The passenger thought for a second, and then genuinely thanked mom as she rolled up her window. The driver nodded his head in agreement too! What are the chances that mom would be there at that exact moment, in the perfect spot, with the personal experience to answer the question of a couple that just "happened" to drive by at that moment!!

We had another really neat one happen just yesterday (Friday 3/24).  Mr. Emmerson was standing in about the same place as my mom and had a man ask him a similar question. Only this time the question was regarding special needs babies. The man said someone he knew had a baby in utero that had been diagnosed with Spina Bifida. He said that because the quality of life would be diminished for the baby, the doctors recommended abortion. What a difficult and scary situation this must have been for the parents to wrestle with.  Amazingly, Mr Emmerson replied, "well, it's quite interesting you would ask, because I have a sister with Spina Bifida." (Wow!)  Mr. Emmerson was able to share about his sister, and that all life is valuable, precious and worth preserving no matter the circumstances. All in a very gentle, understanding and engaging way!  I'm not exactly certain how the conversation ended, but from what I heard sounds like the conversation ended well. Praise the Lord!
 What are the chances that God would bring that man, with that question, to Mr Emmerson - who just "happened" to have a sister with Spina Bifida- and not one of the other 5-6 people that were there at PP at that time! God is good!

"Praise be to the name of God forever and ever; wisdom and power are His." (Daniel 2:20)

*Source: dictionaryofchristianese

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