A Divine Appointment

I kept a divine appointment tonight. It was so obviously a divine appointment that my head is a little swimmy over the whole thing. I have only had this happen to me so obviously one other time. I'll have to post that experience some other time.

I'm going to tell you the whole story of how this divine appointment was set up, because all of the small details that put me in a specific place at a specific time so that the meeting could happen are pretty amazing. This post might end up being kind of long...

My husband came home and asked what was for supper. I had a huge pot of homemade chicken noodle soup in the refrigerator, but it didn't sound appealing to either of us so we decided to go out to eat. Our town has an event called First Friday in the downtown area. Many of the businesses have special offers and stay open late. Lots of people mill around on the streets. It is really fun. We decided to hit one of the new restaurants downtown and then walk around with little ones in a stroller for a while.

Well, I could see trouble as soon as we entered the restaurant where we intended to eat. It was packed and there were only two waitresses, who were running around like chickens with their heads chopped off. We had two small, hungry and unhappy children with us. I tried to convince my husband that we should just leave and go somewhere else. But he wanted to stay. So we did. For 20 minutes. Then we walked out. (I have never walked out of a restaurant before, by the way.)

So we walked to another restaurant, which didn't look nearly as busy. We ordered. Then I got a call on my cell phone. Our home alarm had been set off and the police were on the way to our house. I knew exactly what happened. I forgot to put our dog up, and he had run through the house and set off the alarm. But one of us had to leave the restaurant, go home and disarm the alarm or else our neighbors (and the dog) would be subjected to the ear-piercing sound of our alarm system. Our house is only about 5 minutes from the restaurant we were sitting in, so my husband left me there with the kids and went to take care of the alarm. Then he came back, and the food still had not come!

When he left and came back, he parked our car in a different parking lot. That later proved to be an important detail.

So we finally got our food (45 mins later!) and ate as fast as we could, because I was ready to get home and put the grumpy little ones to bed. But husband still wanted to walk around and see some people before we left downtown, so we did. We stopped and watched a man making a clay pot on a potter's wheel. The children were not nearly as impressed with that as we thought they should be. We stood and listened to a local band for several minutes. Then we decided to head back to the car.

As we were weaving our way through the crowded sidewalk, with a stroller, an old friend stopped us. So we stood and talked for several minutes. Then we continued on to the light at the corner to cross the street and walk the two blocks to where the car was now parked.

I have a habit of smiling at everyone I make eye contact with. I don't do it consciously, it is just part of my disposition. So while we were waiting for the light to change, I smiled at a middle aged woman who was also waiting on the corner. I am going to call her DV, for divine appointment.

DV: Do you happen to be walking back a few blocks to your car? I am feeling a little bit intimidated to walk that way by myself. I don't even know why I came down here tonight. It just seemed kind of strange, but I wanted to come down here.

Me: Yes, our car is in the same direction, you are welcome to walk with us.

DV: (glances toward the sky) Thank you God.

Me: It is amazing how God answers prayer so quickly sometimes, just like that, isn't it?

DV: Oh, yes, all the time.

We smile at each other again.

Me: (as we are crossing the street) You look vaguely familiar to me, but I can't place how I know you.

DV: Yes, you look familiar to me too.

I introduce myself. DV introduces herself. Her name rings a bell in my memory.

Me: Did you used to go to W church?

DV: Yes, I did. Until they told my husband to divorce me.

Me: Oh! (then silent)

At this point DV starts pouring out the story of how she had been in an unhappy marriage, but she loved her husband deeply. He left her, and apparently W church, or someone in leadership there, told him that he should divorce her. She did not want the divorce.

As we continued the walk to our car, she just kept talking about her ex-husband, the church and how the people in it had failed and disappointed her, and how she had learned to rely only on God, and less on people. I felt deeply saddened by her story. She talked about middle age, that she had been married for 25 years before her husband left her, that her husband had remarried two years ago. She was confused because she had always prayed for and desired reconciliation with him. But now he had a new wife and she didn't know what she was supposed to want anymore.


She did say that she had found another church, and was happy in it. She also said that she had recently met with the elders and the new pastor at W church. I don't know what conclusions she drew about the church as it is now, versus the church as it was when she left it several years ago. I told her that we were leaving that church too, but didn't really elaborate on why.

Then we got to our car. Hers was less than 20 feet away. What a coincidence, huh?

I took her hand and told her how glad I was to have met her. She really had just poured her heart out to me. We stood in the parking lot while my husband loaded the kids in the car and kept talking. She asked if she could give me a hug. Of course I gave her a big hug. She said she was sorry for telling me more than she probably should have, and how nice it was to meet me. I looked at her and said, "don't worry about it, don't you think that was exactly what was supposed to happen?" We got in our respective cars and drove off.

Then it struck me as we drove away. If the first restaurant had not been packed, if the second restaurant had not been so slow, if the house alarm had not been set off, if my husband had not driven home and then returned and parked in a different spot, if we had not decided to walk around downtown, if we had not watched the potter making a vase, if we had not listened to the band or stopped and talked to the old friend, we would not have ended up on that street corner at just that exact moment.

But it was a divine appointment, and there was no way we were going to miss it. How cool is that?

This is cool, too. I bet I will see DV again. We live in a smallish town.

*******************************************************

In the past two days, several people have filled me in a little bit more with the story of DV. She has apparently been reached out to and counseled by many people from W church, but has resisted all efforts at reconciliation. I certainly do not know the whole story, nor do I think it is any of my business unless DV wants to tell me about it herself. But one woman who is a member of W church, and who has also been something of a spiritual mother to me personally, told me that I should pray for her. You never know when God is going to step in and change someone's heart.