July 30, 2005

• Thank you so much for your prayers for Jim and our journey. We had a safe trip and are now back home. I am catching up on emails, then plan to go and visit your sites to see what I have missed. And I have missed you all. Needless to say, the computer is very in demand for the next few days as all catch up on what they missed.

  
  

  I was reading a devotional that I subscribe to, and found something that struck home for me. I will include the devotional below, but what hit home is the concept of divine appointments. And the writer goes on about how it is no accident that … it is no accident that… and that Ruth is put in the proper position to receive the blessings.

  
  

  I had a rhema moment when the thought crossed my mind that maybe my past was no accident either, and that maybe God gave me those experiences so that  I would be the kind of person I am today.

  
  

  I have to think on this some more, but I am torn by the above thought. Surely there could have been a less painful way to become who I am is one side of the coin, and the other side of the coin is maybe those experiences I have had will be helpful to others. Who knows.

  
  

  Jim had a friend tape the Bible studies, and I plan to write out more of them asap. But there is a lot to do before I have that freedom to sit and write.

  
  

  Please have a blessed day today.

  
  

  Here is the devotional and the link if you want to subscribe:

  
  

    

  
  

  Sunday, July 24 

  
  

  DIVINE APPOINTMENTS — Ruth 2:3 

  
  

  So she went out and began to glean in the fields behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she found herself working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelech. 

  
  

  “As it turned out…”  If you’re in any way familiar with the way the Lord works, you’ll know that it was no accident that Ruth married her first husband.  It was no accident that he died.  It was no accident that Ruth had the kind of character she did so that she would return to Bethlehem with Naomi.  It was no accident that she was the kind of person to take the initiative in difficult situations.  And it was definitely no accident that she “found herself” gleaning in the fields owned by Boaz.  God guided her footsteps every moment, making sure not only that she ended up in the right place at the right time, but that she had grown into the type of person she needed to be in order to fulfill God’s purpose for her.  God made Ruth and Boaz for each other, and in His divine wisdom He made sure to get them together.  And when you think about it, getting those two together was virtually impossible by human standards.  By all rights, they should never have met, much less married.  But if God was capable of creating the universe, it’s an easy matter for Him to arrange a divine appointment, no matter how remote the possibility looks to you and me. 

  
  

  About 14 years ago, I became friends with a woman when she took a job as a secretary in my office.  She and her husband had been traveling across country to Dallas to look for work, but they ended up stranded in the city where I lived without enough money to repair their car.  She and I remained friends, even though I moved to Houston about a year after we met.  Several years later, the Lord allowed me to lead that woman to Him.  Her car broke down because she had a divine appointment to meet me.  I was working in a job that I hated because I had a divine appointment with her.  Until that night in her living room, I had never thought about God arranging for us to meet.  Now I know He did. 

  
  

  I can look back over my life and see so many times that I met someone at exactly the time God wanted us to meet…. the man who led me to Christ was on a four-hour layover between flights and “found himself” at an antique automobile auction.  He later told me he had no idea why he felt compelled to go into that building until he ran into me.  It was then he knew that the Spirit had urged him to be at the most important divine appointment of my life!  And there is also the man who is now my husband.  Looking back, we both know that our meeting was planned by God.  All we had to do was show up for our divine appointment, even though neither of us suspected what God had in mind for us that day. 

  
  

  In everything that happens in your life, remember that there are no accidents.  God has a purpose and a plan… Be open to His divine appointments – and make sure you show up! 

  
  

  From Bonnie Ricks, Newsong Ministries

  
  

  Newsong6@bellsouth.net

  
  

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