Well, welcome back again for another podcast of Struggling Well. And last week we talked about the verses in scripture that Suzi and I have adopted for our year and kind of our focal point in Matthew, the beginning part of the sermon on the mount to let your light shine before men that they will see your good deeds and give glory to your father who's in heaven. and Suzi, what we were away this weekend and we had some of those what I would call God moments, those realities that God is constantly at work in our lives even though we don't see it and yet there are some times where things come up that you just kind of like, oh my gosh, how did that happen? Except that God was present in the moment.
Yeah, it was fun. we were in Atlanta for a wedding of some dear friend's son and, we had a couple of situations that honestly you couldn't have scripted out. We had no idea. U, one of the first ones was getting in a Uber on the way home from, the rehearsal and we got in the car with a gentleman who had a noticeable accent
and the people that we were with asked him where he was from and it turned out he was from a country in Africa
and so that piqu the interest of the four of us that were in the car with him and we just started asking him questions you know nothing intense not I personally wasn't looking for anything I just you know we like to get to know people and so you're with this driver for a few minutes and so we started asking him question questions and before we knew it, the questions of the one our one particular friend who has such a heart for this country was asking questions that the man just started telling us his heart. I mean, you could hear his heartbreak for his country and it was it just was challenging to us but also just heart-wrenching to hear this man. But as we're listening to him, the we got this sense that there was something individually I think we got this sense that something bigger was going on and so one of the guys in the car said can we pray with you now we don't know where this guy's at or what his thoughts are anything and he said yes and it was such a like yes please. So as our friend prayed with him this man was just you could just hear his heart and his agony and his praying with us
and it was like it was this short interchange but it was extremely powerful and he thanked us over and over again. It wasn't us. It was that as we were listening and I don't know it just was one of those times. What do you think you were in the car?
Yeah. No, I think I look back on that and I go so there'll be people who maybe are listening to this who are going to go well that's just as a coincidence that happened and I can't lay everything off in life to coincidence, but we got an Uber driver. We didn't know who it was going to be.
He picked us up. We didn't know what his story was or anything. And yet, here came this opportunity to share some light of Christ into this man's life.
Well, the next day, we're just walking and we found the venue where the wedding was going to be and we were trying to get into the venue cuz it was locked up. Well, there was one door open and inside was this security lady and we talking with her about just the common everyday things about the building. Well, then she starts talking about having lost her father and how she had to find peace and what that was like. And
and she was interested in neardeath experiences.
Yeah. And so again, that doesn't give me any indication that she's a Christ follower or whatever. And then you asked if she minded if we prayed for her.
She was also going through a bad divorce,
right? So we prayed and when we're done praying. She's in tears and she said, "These are tears of joy." And she said, "I was just this morning asking God if there would be somebody to pray with me."
She was going to call the 700 Club,
right? Instead, she got you.
Instead, she got the four of us.
and it was one of those moments that again, we had we just walked down to see the building. It wasn't anything. It wasn't like we had been I don't want you all to get the wrong idea. a that we were you know fasting and praying about who we could talk to but I think our hearts were in that position let if we run across somebody let's be who we are authentically are which is followers of Christ not hold back I mean you know as we are living in this crazy upside down world we are I think more compelled to everyone's trying to live their authentic selves what is it as a believer that keeps me from living out that I follow Christ or telling people about it
yeah and it was that opportunity again to live out the verses that we've selected for the year. Had we gone to Atlanta and not had any of those opportunities, it would have been a great weekend. We saw friends, like I said, we went to a dear friend's son's wedding. it would have been a great weekend. But this was an added bonus of God stepping in and showing us that I think every day matters and every opportunity if we keep our eyes open is there for us to let him be seen. And then on the way home, We're driving up 85 and we randomly picked an exit to grab some lunch and then we randomly picked a Wendy's restaurant.
Who doesn't pick a Wendy's?
Well, on Sundays Chick-fil-A is closed, so you know that those no better.
And we walk in
and all of a sudden I hear you and yelling and I'm like, "What?" You were shaking. Shrieking. Well, we ran into people who had gone to our church for years. dear friends who also had chosen at that moment in time that Wendy's to have lunch at. And again, it was one of those things, okay, is that just pure coincidence?
I mean, we hadn't predetermined we were going to stop at that exit,
right?
We hadn't predetermined that we were going to go to that Wendy's. They had been at church and they were up there, not where they live, but where they were going to go looking for some something that they were shopping for after having lunch.
Here's the thing about these moment. is coincidence. I don't think it does much to your soul. I mean, it's, hey, we ran into so and so, but it may not do anything to your soul, but I feel like the moments that we had this past weekend, they really did something to my heart and my soul. One of the things that impacted me, especially with the woman in the building that we were talking to, is, this woman made in the image of God. We know nothing about her. I felt like in awe that God would let us. We're just, you know, four normal people going about our business. That God would at that moment use us. And it wasn't just for her benefit. I hope it was for her benefit, but it was for us, too, cuz it was a reminder that God will use you wherever, however. And, you know, one woman, four people. It's not a big thing. It's not going to be in the news. No one's going to write a book about it. Nothing. We have the opportunity to share it on this podcast, but you know, it's nothing. It's a nothing story in the scheme of the world. And yet in God's world, it was an important story and he used us and used her to encourage us and spur us on. It was really an important moment
and it's like there are places in the scripture that we read now, we have the benefit of history and looking back and we see it, but the people who were in the midst of it at that moment see it like
Saul was pursuing David to kill him,
right?
And in 1st Samuel chapter 23, it says that and Saul sought him every day, but God did not give him into his hand.
So God's at work. Was Saul aware that God was preventing him from finding David? Was David aware that God was keeping him safe? I don't know. But it was one of those things where we read back on it and we understand that God was actively involved in that whole situation working behind the scenes. I woke up on Saturday the day of the wedding. I had no idea the night before. I had no idea when we stepped into that Uber that was going to be there. No, no idea whatsoever. And yet God was working and I believe use that to go back to what I wanted us to see, which was that every day is an opportunity
to let people see him through how we behave and how we act and how we respond to those situations that come into come our way.
And I'm sure there's a lot that we miss. I'm sure that either we're not aware of him or we don't take advantage of them. But I just I don't know. I think if you're wondering is God at work? Is he does he use me at all? It could be the thing that you say to someone in passing when you say excuse me or you hold a door open for somebody or you're at your grocery store and you engage with the person who's checking you out. I don't know. But if God is omnipresent, meaning he's with each one of us as believers fully, and then the then he's sovereign, so his will is going to be done and nothing is wasted by him and everything is eternal in some way. My words matter. And so I also feel a lot of chagrin over the words that I've said. probably in the last week that were not good words that God was also present and I let things come out of my heart that weren't great. But it's just I don't know. It's just this awareness that God is present. He's there. He promises his presence. So what does it look like then for us to I mean we got a we got a little taste of that this weekend. I and I'm
Yeah. And so as you're hearing this maybe today for you it just feels like another whatever day of the week it is and just a mundane day for you and you've got your day planned out, mapped out and there's nothing exciting on your calendar. There's nothing more than just the routine things you go through every Monday, every Wednesday, whatever day it is. I we want you to see and understand that God is at work today.
And there's no such thing as routine and mundane when we're living out our life in Christ for the world. to see. Not so that we get credit, not so that we're held up as something special, but that it, as it says in Matthew, the glory, the honor, the praise goes to our father who we serve. So maybe today, today won't feel as mundane to you. Have a great day.