Yesterday I was at a local coffeeshop I had never gone to before. All of the people that I went with had walked down the street to grab some donuts as I waited for one girl who was still inside.
As my mind wandered, and I enjoyed the scenery, an older woman asked, "Did you just graduate?"
I was shocked.
"How did you know?" I asked her.
"I saw the car right there had 'Congratulations 2022 Graduates' painted on the window and figured that was for you," she replied.
The car she pointed to was not my car, which was not surprising. How would she have known which car was mine? Yet that small mistake led me to have a conversation with her and her husband about my work as an editor and writer. Then her husband mentioned to me that his family had once owned the oldest publishing company in England. The more and more he spoke, the more I heard him say things that did not align with the truth found in scripture. I prayed, "Lord, if I am meant to say something, please give me the words to say to them at the right time."
Without me saying a single word about faith, God, or Jesus, the husband told me, "Actually, my dad worked on editing the Jerusalem Bible."
And with that small phrase, the doors were opened wide for me to ask, "Do you believe in the Bible? Do you believe that it's true?"
The Lord prepared, equipped, and provided for me in that moment. Was it really a coincidence that the woman, a complete stranger, decided to ask on a whim if another complete stranger had graduated with very little reason to do so? I don't think so. I think God led her to ask me that question simply so we could have a conversation about Him. And I didn't do anything! I didn't even approach that woman or expect to speak to any strangers at all, but He sovereignly ordained that "coincidence".
Not only that, but when the man began to question the complete authority of Scripture, a verse I had learned years ago in church came to mind to share with him.
"I don't know about you," I said , "but I believe the entire Bible is without error and inspired by God. As 2 Timothy 3: 16 says, 'All Scripture is God breathed.'"
This morning as I was driving to work, I was reminded that I would never have known that verse if it were not for my parents taking me to church every week where I was instructed in the word by countless individuals who loved the Lord and who loved me. This realization of the Lord's faithfulness and goodness to me brought tears to my eyes. The Lord had been preparing me for moments like these even then! Even when I was five years old and hardly understood the things I was learning, He was making a way for His purpose to be made complete in me for His glory.
And that is what He does for you.
Scripture says in Ephesians 2:10 that "we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."
God knows everything. That's right- everything. He knows what lies before us, and He has a plan that is good. We can rest in the knowledge that He will not leave us stranded for He is always with us. That means He knows exactly what each and every child of His will need at the exact moment.
James tells us that "every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows" (vv. 17). We can know that all good things come from Him alone. There is literally nothing good we can do on our own apart from Him.
I am a fairly quiet person. I have my moments where I can be goofy and loud, but for the most part, I tend to prefer to listen. I constantly worry and am fearful of the smallest things. Oftentimes the thought of sharing my faith can bring instant fear to my heart. Yet for some reason, God has given me a strong desire to share my faith despite my weakness and fear. I really cannot explain it. The only way I can think to explain it is by the power of God. Through the words of Paul, "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Corinthians 12: 9b-10).
For some reason, He chose me and what is "weak in the world to shame the strong" so that "no human being might boast in the presence of God," and it is because of God that we "are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, 'Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord'" (1 Corinthians 1: 27-31).
There is nothing natural in me which I can boast about because I am broken and weak. But I can boast in Christ. I can give thanks for the things He has done through me, and so can you, because we know that it is not by our own power and ability that they have been accomplished.
Not only can we give thanks for the things He has done through us, but we can always give thanks to God because of the grace He has shown us in Christ Jesus. Paul says that "in every way" we have been "enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge" so that we "are not lacking in any gift" as we "wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain [us] to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom [we] were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord" (1 Corinthians 1: 4-9).
Again, just like He gave me the opportunity to speak and the words to say to that couple, He can give every believer all speech and all knowledge of what is true. We lack no good gift that comes from Him, and He will sustain us until the end of all time because He is faithful!
I hope this has encouraged you to continue to spend time with the Lord because of His love for you, His provision for you, and His faithfulness towards you. I encourage you to seek Him first today and thank Him for the innumerable ways He has cared for us. And I pray that the Lord will continue to prepare you and use you for His glory in any and all circumstances.
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