Hi all, Week 26 marks being halfway through the year! Or, at least, I thought it did. It turns out there are 53 Tuesdays in 2024! Just another wonderful opportunity to share a story of God's faithfulness this year. I am still looking at the end of June as a milestone. Sometimes, if I am being completely honest, I don't always know where the stories are going to come from. Today started off that way but, in another great example of God's faithfulness, I needn't have worried. My friend Paul kindly sent me a wonderful one to share with you all this morning!
Paul writes about those moments that might seem like coincidences but feel as though they are God given. It is something I think we all will have had some experience of. Enough from me, I'll let him tell it...
In Paul's words...
My name is Paul and I attend St Mary's church in Chesham. My church habits are a little unorthodox compared to most Christians, as I work on a Sunday, so am unable to attend the church services regularly, of which there are 2 (9am (traditional) and 11am (more Modern)). I’ve been involved with a number of churches over the years, but eventually found what I call my ‘Spiritual Home’ at St Mary's. I attend one of their midweek small Groups and am also part of the men's group that meets once a month. Luckily as the services are streamed on ‘YouTube’ I'm able to download them to an audio file on my phone and listen to the services whilst I do my day job, which is delivering Groceries for a supermarket. So it's amazing how close you can become to a church community without actually regularly attending the services.
I also, when I remember, write down small instances where I know God has guided me, or given me the opportunity to have conversations with others about faith or spiritual things. I call them ‘Coincidental Miracles', because I find when you pray and engage with God, that things change and opportunities present themselves, that could have just been a coincidence, but when you think about it, you realise it's actually an opportunity given to you by God to continue his work. All we need to do is respond.
So, with that in mind, one such instance. I'd gone to my church Home Group one evening, which ended slightly later than usual. This left me going to bed at about 10pm, which isn't late for most of us, but when you're up at 4am the following morning for work, it really feels like it. As it happened I woke at 4:40am, so was a little later than I should have been getting ready for work.
In the group meeting the previous evening we discussed evangelism and how we felt about it. I shared that I feel we need to be allowing God to lead, rather than engineering opportunities ourselves. Usually for me, it was something coincidental that presents itself and also where I feel as though I get a nudge in my head, telling me this is your opportunity!
I also shared with the Home Group that recently I've added the words 'and Pray' to my morning 'Wake up' alarm on my phone (it now reads ‘Wake-up and pray’). Also, that my go to morning prayer had changed from 'Lord be with me today', to 'Lord, let me be aware of your presence', because I believe that God is always with you, particularly when you don't realise it.
Regardless, that morning, because of the late get up, I'd forgotten to pray and I realised this as I approached the rear roller shutter of my Supermarkets loading bay that morning. So, I took the opportunity to say in my head 'Lord let me be aware of your presence', as a quick prayer, as I was in work mode. A few moments later I walked past and said a quick "Hi" to one of the night managers and he said, "You always look so happy, why do you always look so happy"?
Opportunity, firmly nudged into my pathway I believe……. Coincidence??? I think not…….
Paul is part of the St. Mary’s community in Chesham and works delivering groceries for a supermarket. I could not tell you exactly where we met; it could have been through a church group we both attended or through a charity we have both been involved with. It is great that our paths have crossed so many times in the local community!
Thank you all so much for looking at story of God connecting with his people. Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
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