Plane Providence

“Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground.” Psalm 143:10 NIV

This week I went for a walk at a local park.  I noticed an older woman with white hair and glasses pushing a younger woman in a wheel chair in the parking lot of a picnic shelter.  The girl had brown hair and may have been in her thirties.  As I walked around the trail near that lot, the thought came to me of what it would be like to just walk over to them and strike up a conversation.  But I didn’t.  I continued to walk past imagining the scenario in my mind.  How would they have reacted if I had walked over to them?  What was their story?  Who was the white haired woman and why was the younger one in the wheel chair?  Would I have had an opportunity to pray with them?  Then I began ruminating on how common it is for us as human beings to never want to intrude on each other’s lives.  We are afraid to strike up a conversation with a stranger because we think it would bother them.  But is that really true?  Especially if I am a Christian going out into this world equipped with the Holy Spirit of discernment to guide me toward who to talk to and when? 

In my more discerning moments I have had the opportunity to talk and pray with strangers.  One of those times sticks out in my mind; several years ago I was waiting at the airport in Roanoke, Virginia to begin a flight to Florida.  I noticed a cute elderly lady at the terminal traveling alone.  Anyone that knows me well knows I have a heart for elderly people and have focused my ministry on them in the past.  Imagine my surprise to find that when I boarded the plane and located my seat it was right beside of that little lady.  That was when I thought to myself, okay God what are you up to?  I did not believe that this was a coincidence after I had noticed her out of so many other people back at the terminal, providence was involved.   Our flight was heading to a lay-over in Georgia; I struck up a conversation with her for part of the trip.  I was pleased to find out she had been pretty self-sufficient and spunky all of her life, the talk flowed easily.  As we started getting closer and closer to landing in Atlanta, my heartbeat started pounding in my ears because I knew after exchanging pleasantries God was telling me to pray with her.  The closer we got to landing the more that fire inside of me grew, that moment when your flesh is fighting against intruding on someone’s life.  Your thoughts becoming anxious that the person will think you are crazy or get angry at the mention of anything related to religion or prayer. So on this particular occasion (after many times I’ve failed to obey in the past) I let God lead, I asked her if I could pray with her and if there was anything she needed prayer about.  She was not offended at all and told me she was actually on the flight because her brother was very ill and she was going to Texas to visit him.  I prayed for her and her brother as my heart calmed down and my flushed cheeks began to lighten.  The plane landed, we exited the gate, and she was gone just as quickly as our lives had intersected. I’ve never seen her again even though she was from the county I live in.  For all I know her brother could have been miraculously healed because my God is more than able to make the impossible happen.  I don’t know what God’s purpose was that day I could speculate about many things but some reasons and answers I will never know this side of heaven.  But I can say how silly I feel even to this day, when I feel God urging me to do something and I still have doubts about how it will go or how someone will react.  Because I can look back and confidently say EVERYTIME He has prompted me to step out in faith with others and I obeyed His call I have never gotten the bad reaction I was so fearful of. 

Many people feel unloved and unnoticed in this world.  There are some that may really be waiting for anyone to talk to them even if it is a stranger.  I’ve always heard one of the greatest gifts I can give to a person is my time.  Can I stop my busy life and give someone my time today?  I may never know what a difference it could make for them right now or maybe even bring a lasting change in their life.  And not because there is anything special about me but because I serve a God that is able to do supernaturally what I could never do in the natural. Will I allow God to use me to be the change He wants to see in this world?  Will you?