Surprised By God

Monday I met a friend for coffee at the local Peet’s coffee shop. The seating was typically busy but we were able to snag a table just as another couple of gals were leaving. She and I sat there enjoying the ambiance and talking a mile a minute about kids, the recent high school dance that our freshmen sons attended, her birthday, you name it.

One of the other patrons seated nearby got up and packed up his things. As he started to pass our table he tapped me on the shoulder and told me he felt he was supposed to give me this piece of paper. He handed me a folded sheet of notebook paper. He looked rather tentative as he handed it to me. I opened it glancing to the last two sentences of the handwritten page. In a lovely manuscript were the words: “You are blessed AND a wonderful blessing. You reflect the Beauty of the Lord. I looked up at him and smiled. I thanked him for taking the time to write these words of encouragement and to risk giving them to me a stranger. He smiled broadly and said “I knew I was to give you this letter!” I told him that it is an encouragement to me just to see someone obey the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Now I don’t recall a spiritual statement in the 45 minutes that we had been sitting there (which is a sad testimony in and of itself!) and I had never seen that man before. I was stunned into silence as he walked away. I handed my friend the letter and she read the following aloud:

“You are a woman of stability yet there are times you think your stability has made you rigid and unfeeling. This is not true. You are a woman of great compassion, generosity and sensitivity. There is much fruitfulness in your life- you are surrounded by it don’t lose sight of it.

Your children- you feel you’ve done your best and that is true but there is more. Your prayers are powerful and will be continually used to shape, mold and protect their lives.

There are some hidden things you would like to do- to accomplish deep down- don’t count them out- pursue those dreams- brush aside the thoughts that you are egotistical, prideful- they are dreams that are heavenly given.

There is much more ahead of you- continued and expanding fruitfulness.

There is a gift of wisdom- it is the lifelong emulation of other women you’ve known and others you’ve read about.

Through your graciousness it will have lifelong & life changing effects on others.

You are blessed AND a wonderful blessing. You reflect the Beauty of the Lord.”

You might think that this is a pretty neutral letter and could apply to anyone, except for the facts that the three issues addressed, stability, children and dreams have been issues that I have been agonizing over in my times with the Lord. Knowing those details made me all the more aware that these were words specifically for me.

Why do I share them with you? So many reasons bubble up in my mind but one for sure is that you would know that God is personally interested in your life! He desires your time and cares about you! He really does know and have plans for you!

You may be the vessel to encourage a stranger. Don’t neglect the prompting of the still small voice.

You may be the one who needs the encouragement. Keep your eyes and ears tuned into God; He is at work! That encouragement may come in the most out of the box way.

Be fervent in your prayers. God’s timing is not ours, but it is perfect! Never early, never late but right on time!

I would love to hear your thoughts about this experience, or even better to hear how God has surprised you.