Straight from a God Orchestrated Heart
By Lisa Elliott
It “just so happened,” one Sunday morning.
My husband and I had no former commitments and “just so happened” to be free to travel forty minutes and hear our son, Jacob, preach—one of the many benefits of having moved back to the area where we chose to settle down into retirement. Most Sundays Jacob led worship as the Pastor of Worship and Creative Arts.
God placed a call upon his life into worship ministry after the death of his brother, Ben. Before he died, Ben recognized Jacob’s musical gifting and gave Jacob money he’d been saving for university to buy a guitar, knowing he’d no longer need the money for himself. In fact, on Ben’s last day here on earth, all he wanted was to hear his brother play the guitar. After Ben’s death, Jacob spent hours grieving through his guitar from a sacred place. To think of how Jacob’s ministry has grown since then. I call him a worshipping leader rather than a worship leader. And, now also a gifted preacher.
At the end of his message, Jacob gave an invitation to those who wanted prayer to come forward. Several responded. Among them “just so happened” to be a woman who, before too long, was escorted by Jacob toward me. The woman didn’t look at all familiar to me. But, when my son introduced me to her, I knew exactly who she was.
“It just so happened” that a Bible college friend had contacted me a few months earlier. He wished to inform me of the sudden passing of the son of a fellow alumnus. Having some insight into what it is to lose a son, my heart broke at the thought of what he might be facing. I hesitated to reach out to my old friend. I wasn’t sure if he’d even remember me. Nor did I know exactly what I would say once I made contact. Simply knowing that the less said the better in cases such as this. He eventually responded and thanked me for reaching out. The woman, who now stood before me, “just so happened” to be my Bible school friend’s wife!
With an urge I couldn’t control, I took her into a warm embrace and she gently cried into my shoulder. Without a word, our hearts were drawn together like magnets. It was as if we’d known each other from another place in time. When, in fact, we’d never met before.
As our conversation unfolded, she confided that she hadn’t been able to bring herself to go to church since her son’s passing. But, she “just so happened” to feel prompted to get there that morning. She confessed she had almost bolted out the door following the service. But here she was. And, I “just so happened” to be right here with her.
I learned that after the death of her son, someone “just so happened” to give her husband a copy of my book, “Dancing in the Rain; One Family’s Journey through Grief and Loss.” Her husband had tucked it away in a drawer without her knowing it and it was there that my new friend “just so happened” to recently discover it.
As she scanned the family pictures in the book she “just so happened” to, somehow, recognize me and my husband. Possibly from a conference centre where she had worked. She showed the picture to her husband and he mentioned he had gone to Bible school with us. He was aware that our son, Jacob, was the worship pastor at this church where we now stood.
She went to the church that morning expecting Jacob to be leading worship and was disappointed not to see him on the platform. That is, until he stepped up and took his place in the pulpit as he “just so happened “ to be preaching instead. After the service, she told Jacob she had recognized him from my book that “just so happened” to be written by his mom who, “just so happened” to be visiting that day.
Someone else “just so happened” to inform her and her husband of the grieving parents retreats that my husband and I “just so happen” to conduct twice a year at Muskoka Bible Centre near Huntsville, Ontario.
One heart’s connection in one brief encounter that “just so happened” to be orchestrated by a loving Heavenly Father who knew two grieving moms needed each other.
Even as I wrote this blog, I was awaiting my new friend’s arrival to share some cherished time together—which we did. She shared with me all the ways the Lord was showing up in her grief to let her know He cares and that I was one of them.
This God-orchestrated encounter and resulting friendship reminds me afresh that nothing “just so happens” in God’s kingdom. He does nothing unintentionally. Nothing is by chance. Nothing is an accident. There is no such thing as co-incidence. Rather, God-incidents.
I’m thankful for a God who orchestrates “just so happened” moments to show us how mindful He is of us. To think that the Creator of the universe takes interest in you and me! My heart echoes the psalmist’s words, “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?” (Psalms 8:3-4).
May this be your heart’s challenge; that you would consider Him and all the personally intimate ways He has shown up in your life to let you know you are seen and that He cares for you.
“Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance? Who can fathom the Spirit of the Lord, or instruct the Lord as his counselor? Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge, or showed him the path of understanding? Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded? Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing” (Isaiah 40:12-14, 21, 26).
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Need a little extra encouragement? Discover more inspirational blogs by Lisa Elliott, Straight from the Heart.
About this Contributor:
Lisa Elliott is an inspirational speaker and award-winning author of The Ben Ripple, Dancing in the Rain, and A Ministry Survival Guide. She’s also a writer for Just Between Us Magazine, theStory, and Good Ground. She and her husband, David, have four children (three on earth, one in heaven) and serve the Lord together in Stratford, ON, Canada.