Divine Appointments

Recently, I have I found myself praying that the Lord would order my steps (Psalm 37:23) and set divine appointments for me. I’ve been asking that He would give me the opportunity to be an encourager and to be His mouthpiece throughout the day. I think one of the reasons I pray that, is because I have been on the receiving end of it. The Hebrew word “moadim” is generally taken to mean the Jewish festivals. It is literally translated “seasons” or “appointed times” and it comes from the root word “moed” which means “appointments, appointed meeting place, appointed time.” So, in the scheduled festivals, God was essentially setting up meetings with His people — specific times to come together. What if God started setting up appointments for you?

Have y’all ever had an experience where a total stranger walked into your life (even for just a few minutes) and made a difference? And then maybe you never even saw them again? When my daughter was born, she was extremely premature. She was probably what would be called a micro-preemie. She was officially born at 26 weeks gestation (out of a 40-week pregnancy) but if you go by “Mom calculations” rather than medical calculations, it was more like 25. She weighed a 1 lb and 5 oz. I was a first-time mama, and I had some health issues of my own. So, a few days after she was born, she and I were still at the hospital but everybody else had gone. My husband had needed to go back to work, (he came back to the hospital every night and stayed with me) and my family had gone home, etc. There I was in a hospital room by myself with my baby down the hall in the NICU. She was stable, but the docs had told me that they gave her a 50/50 chance of survival, and that IF she lived, she would have learning disabilities and physical disabilities.

But, God.

As I sat there in the bed, trying not to obsess about my daughter, and trying not to focus on the pain I was feeling, there was a noise at the door and in came an older, short, thin, tiny framed little African American woman with a mop and a rolling bucket. She spun into my room like she’d had a pot of espresso for breakfast, and immediately began chattering away and asking me questions while she worked. To be honest, all I could think was, “I wish she would hurry up and finish what she is doing. I don’t feel like talking and I am tired.” Truth be known, I really wanted to just be alone so I could feel sorry for myself in peace. But before she left she knew the highlights of our story, how tiny and early my girl was, and how I didn’t know what was going to happen. As she was mopping her way out the door she stopped and asked me when we were going home. I nearly was in tears as I told her that I had no idea. My baby was likely going to be here for a very long time, if she even survived. That little lady laughed. Not in a mean-spirited way, but it still caught me off guard. She worked on this floor of the hospital, she likely saw everything coming and going. She said, “Honey, babies like that go home out of this place every day.” I was immediately incredulous. I told her again (because CLEARLY she hadn’t been paying attention) how TINY my baby was, and how EARLY she was and what the NEONATOLOGISTS had told us. She stood there with the door propped open and her back to the doorway. She had the mop handle in her hand and shook her head. “I see it every day! That’s nothing around here. I’ve seen them born smaller than that and go home out of here. That baby is gonna be just fine!” And as she mopped herself out the door she said again for good measure, “Yup, just fine…”

I was stunned. My HEAD said that she was not medical personnel and that she couldn’t possibly know more than our team of doctors and nurses (all of whom, by the way, were incredible and so VERY good to us). But my heart was comforted. Greatly comforted. I never saw that woman again, although I was hoping I would. I looked for her. I had 1000 questions I wanted to ask her. To this day, I don’t know if she was an angel, or if she was just an obedient saint of God that He sent to me when He knew I needed encouragement. Either way, I am thankful for her.

The Lord preserved me in so many ways through that ordeal. In the bottom of my heart, I never felt like it WASN’T going to be ok eventually. The Lord gave me a sense of peace through that time in my life that gave me the capability to function and do what I needed to do. And I was thankful for it then, but the farther away I am from that time, the more thankful I am – mostly because I get a clearer view of the big picture, and a better understanding of what a BIG DEAL it was. I remember rocking my baby in the NICU and praying over her and telling her that God obviously had BIG plans for her, otherwise he wouldn’t have spared her when she could have so easily been one of the many children who didn’t make it.

My daughter will be 16 in a few months. I still remember the kind words of that little woman, and the divine appointment God gave us in my hospital room. She was right, my baby girl is indeed, “just fine.” The Lord blessed us tremendously. She spent 3 months in the NICU, and then went back to the hospital twice after that, for weeklong stays during her first year. It was hard. To say we were exhausted is an understatement. We never slept more than a couple of hours and my husband was still working a very physical full-time job. She came home on a heart monitor and with a sack full of medications. But the Lord was SO good to us. My girl has no physical or learning disabilities. She is an extremely bright, beautiful, kind, compassionate, young woman that loves the Lord and makes her mother proud (not that I am biased, because I TOTALLY am).

The Bible is full of DIVINE APPOINTMENTS that the Lord sets. Nothing happens by accident. Jesus didn’t HAPPEN to run into the woman at the well who had been married 5 times (John 4:4-42). Elisha didn’t randomly meet the Shunammite woman who fed him and gave him a place to stay (2 Kings 4:8-37). Philip could have easily spent his time ministering to numerous people in the town, but instead went to the desert for one person (Acts 8:26-39). How exciting to know you have made a difference in a life. But we have to be walking in the Spirit, living a Spirit-led life. The trick is that we have to be WILLING, and (here is where I think I struggle the most) be PAYING ATTENTION, because it’s so easy to get caught up in the day-to-day of our own busy lives. But what a THRILL to know you have been used by God to impact a life!

Lord, use me! Let me be an instrument of Your love and grace, like the sweet lady who came into my hospital room. Allow me to be sensitive to Your Spirit and those around me, and bring to my mind the ways which you would have me to help and encourage. Fill my mouth with what You would have me to say. I want You to shine through me and be glorified.

Psalm 37:23 KJV    The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, And He delights in his way.

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