A God Thing

Photo by Thomas Morse on Unsplash

Have you ever had something happen to you and you just knew that it was God? There is no other way to explain what happened, except that it had to be God? I just love these moments in life, don’t you? I refer to these occurrences as “a God thing.” So, for example, when something happens that you didn’t expect to happen, but something good comes from it, I would say that was a God thing.

I have had some friends and family share stories with me recently that fall into this category. Back in the heat of summer, one friend had her car break down in the middle lane on I-285 in Atlanta. If you are familiar with Atlanta, this is a very scary spot to breakdown. Two lanes of cars flying around you on both sides and people driving crazy. Add in the heat from summer, plus the extra heat from being on the road and no air conditioning, and a dying cell phone that she couldn’t charge, and this is the perfect mix for a harrowing situation. She could not get out of her car. All she could do was sit there and pray. I mean, she truly could have died in this situation.  If that had been me, I would have probably had an anxiety attack.

 Thankfully, the police showed up. They assisted in maneuvering my friend’s car to the side of the road, without causing her or anyone else to get into an accident. When she shared this story, the first thing I thought of was that God was watching out her and taking care of her. This was a God thing.

Another friend, along with her husband and daughter, recently had some car troubles as well. They had taken a trip to the mountains. They had stopped at an overlook to enjoy the scenery. When they went back to their car, it wouldn’t start. It was going to be dark soon. And, they were already hearing the howls of coyotes. They called for a tow truck, but because of their remote location, it would take a few hours for the tow truck to get there. They didn’t have much option but to sit there and wait. After a few hours, they saw headlights coming their way.  

They thought it was the tow truck coming to save them. It wasn’t. Three guys got of the car and asked if they could help. When my friends explained their situation, the guys asked if they could pray over their car and told them that Jesus loved them. The three men that stopped also happened to be named Matthew, David, and James—all Biblical names! Those three men waited with my friends until the tow truck got there, so they would not have to be out there by themselves. And, the whole time they talked about Jesus. My friend said that she knew that God had sent them to help them in a distressing situation. This was a God thing.

These stories are just a few examples that come to my mind. I bet if you look back over your life so far, you have a few of these too. And, if you really start to examine your life, you will realize that God is working in your life in a myriad of ways. Over the course of many years, you can even start tracing back things that happened a while ago, and see God at work in your life. You can start connecting the dots and making more sense of events in your life. Maybe you remember something that happened in your life years ago, that was bad at the time, but now, years later you realize that good came from it. These are God things too! And, I also refer to these events as beauty from ashes. (See Isaiah 61:3)
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We may not see it, but God is working in our lives each and every day. When we grasp this basic understanding, it helps us to open our eyes to all that God is doing in our lives. Which, in turn, helps us to be me grateful and thankful. This work that God is doing in each one of us, well, that’s a God thing! ​