God interventions are inevitable. They happen all the time. Sometimes we have no idea they happen and probably never will. Sometimes it’s as simple as a slight delay in our morning routine, making us late and therefore missing that car accident. We have no idea how many times God has intervened in our lives to protect or guide us.
We also have God interventions that are obvious and can’t be explained by any other way but a God intervention, or like my sister-in-law used to say “not a coincidence but a God incidence”.
I’d like to share of a God incidence that I recently had the honor of being the recipient of.
As many know, I went to a widow’s retreat in Alys Beach in July 2021. While I was incredibly nervous to go, I was so glad I did. I was able to meet 20 widows in the same period of life as myself and have made lifelong friends who truly understand. I was also able to do a lot of healing there.
In November 2021, I heard about another widow’s retreat but this one was a national retreat in Georgia and there would be 200 widows and cost quite a bit more. I was hesitant to sign up as I had just spent thousands of dollars purchasing my books, I had a wedding in California in January 2022 and a girls trip with five of my friends and Hannah to Hawaii in March 2022. I had a lot of expenses and I wasn’t sure if I could financially make it happen. One of the helpers/workers at the widow’s retreat in July had reached out to me and told me if I needed help financially to please let them know and they would make it happen for me. I was so grateful and told her I would pray about it and let her know.
The day after I had that conversation, my boss announced at work that overtime was approved and there was no limit to the overtime worked.
Well, if that isn’t an answer to prayer I don’t know what is. I signed up for the retreat that very day.
This isn’t the God incidence I was talking about.
Fast forward to January 2022. I was still stressing out a little bit about finances. I had worked a ton of overtime but things were still a bit tight and I knew I had to save up a bit more for the Hawaii trip. I always hate asking for anything but I reached out to the one who had reached out to me before. I told her I had the ticket for the retreat and my rental car but if the offer was still open to let me stay at someone’s house I would love to accept the offer. She was very supportive and said she would be happy to look into it and get back to me. A couple days later she reached back saying a member of the praise team had a room in her house for me and I could stay with her. She hadn’t been at our widow’s retreat in July so I didn’t know her but I knew I was in good hands and I was incredibly grateful that I could save that expense.
Then my world came crashing down. The girls trip to Hawaii was canceled. It may not seem like a big deal but it was to me. As most know, I was on the beach of Hawaii when I found out my husband had only hours to live (as a side note, he ended up living 5 more days). I will never forget that moment and I don’t think it’s something you could ever forget, honestly. I had done a lot of healing at the widow’s retreat with a member of the support team so I felt much better going to a beach but the sound of waves is still hard. One of the hardest parts for me was knowing Hawaii was the place I found out my husband was dying. I didn’t want Hawaii to be a bad place for me and I knew my husband wouldn’t want that either. I knew going back would be hard but I desperately wanted to. I wanted to go back and heal. I knew going back to the same island would be too hard so we had planned to go to a different island. While I was scared to go, I was working really hard to therapeutically be ready to go. I was working hard both financially and emotionally to go for both Hannah and I. I finally was in a place that I was feeling like I could go and heal….and then it was canceled. I felt like my healing was going backward instead of forward and that was absolutely crushing to me. It was very hard and to try to explain just how hard is near impossible to put into words.
It was a few days after the trip was canceled that I got a text from the same person who worked with me at the widow’s retreat and I give a lot of credit to for helping me heal. She’s the reason why the sound of waves is no longer triggering and how I can think of beaches as relaxing again. She’s also the first person I reached out to when I booked the plane tickets to Hawaii and couldn’t stop crying and panicking. She calmed me down and encouraged me, saying I could do this and this is a step towards healing. Obviously she is very important to me.
Her text simply said “Are you ready for the retreat? I’m excited to have you stay at my house!”
I was very confused. I knew I wasn’t staying at her house. I texted her back saying I was staying at someone else’s house and told her who.
She didn’t understand but said this person only lived a few blocks from her so we would still be able to see each other and get together. I was relieved that I would be able to see her and spend extra time with her. Secretly I was a bit disappointed I wasn’t staying with her because I thought it would be amazing to be able to spend a lot of time with the person who helped me heal so much and such an incredible support to me but I didn’t want to say anything and concentrated on the fact that I would be able to see her at least.
Then a few hours later she texted back and told me she worked it out that I would be able to stay with her. She didn’t know what had happened but somehow I was put on her list and there had been a “misunderstanding”. But she just felt like she needed to work it out so I could stay with her and she did.
When I found this out, I knew this had to be a God incidence. I explained what had happened with the Hawaii trip. She knew how much anxiety I was feeling about going back to Hawaii and she also knew I was looking forward to healing more. She knew everything and had helped me so she also knew how devastating it was to me to have this trip canceled. She was amazed again by how God intervened and she told me she couldn’t wait for the retreat and to see me “God is going to bring more healing to you at this retreat! Trust Him!”
God is amazing. He knew how much I needed this person, especially at a time when I was feeling so low. There was no explanation as nobody else on the team knew that I had reached out looking for a place to stay. I didn’t want everyone knowing and was so embarrassed to even ask one person. How I got on that list is beyond me. I never should have been on her list….but yet I was. A God incidence.
Anyone who has read my book knows that the way Hannah came into our lives can only be described as a God incidence. There was really no explanation as to how we were able to adopt Hannah. I still can’t believe how everything came to be. The only explanation is God intervened. He knew she needed to be with us and He was going to make it happen.
And He does it again. I’m obviously meant to go to this widow’s retreat and stay with the person who helped me heal in the most amazing way.
God is good all the time.
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