"Happenstance"

I'm so grateful for the ways that God works. More than once today I've marveled at how He beings things together according to His good plan. Things happen, people come together, relationships form by that thing we call "chance," and He's behind it all. It's amazing, isn't it? One little thing can happen on an idle afternoon that impacts the way you think - the way you see the world - the way you live. Nothing is happenstance. Nothing comes out of the blue for God. He ordains it all to go according to His plan, and it's so comforting to know that my life is in hands that are infinitely bigger and wiser than my own.

Jen, my friend and coworker, is leaving her job next week. She's leaving her position and I'm entering it, in one of those weird twists, and we won't see each other nearly as often. This makes me really sad. She has made such a difference to me since she started here, and though it has only been a couple of months that we have been here together, I know - beyond any doubt - that God placed us here together for a time for a specific reason. Someone who doesn't believe in divine appointments might let the friendship fade away and eventually disappear, but knowing that God brought us into each other's lives to minister to and help each other, it would be impossible to do that. He used this job - this random place of employment - to introduce two women who would never have met without His intervention.

That just makes me think, you know? Nothing happens in my life without a reason. Nothing comes into my little world without some purpose. With that in mind, it's hard to just drift through my days and let time pass me by.

When I think I'm just wandering around cyberspace, I "stumble" upon a blog that holds healing words for my hurting heart. When I think I'm just taking a job so that I can earn money for my family and work outside of the house, I find a place that works in me, releasing insecurities and fears I've held onto for so long. When I think I'm turning the radio on to fill the silence in my car, a song comes on that speaks to me in words I needed to hear.

There is no chance. There is no such thing as coincidence. I used to love those things called "coincidences," but now I don't even believe in them........and it's so much more amazing when you don't see things as happenstance, but as something planned beyond our understanding. I like that even better.

How do people make it in this world when they don't believe there's something more?

"Look, God is all-powerful. Who is a teacher like Him? No one can tell Him what to do. No one can say to Him, 'You have done wrong.' Instead, glorify His mighty works, singing songs of praise. Everyone has seen these things... Look, God is exalted beyond what we can understand... We cannot comprehend the greatness of His power." (Job 36:22-26, 37:5)