No Coincidence

God looks after those He loves and in many cases He puts special people in their lives to lead them through difficult times.  It can be for a short time, or for a whole lifetime of blessings.  You  may know of someone who has been blessed by a special friend from God or maybe you have a special person that has blessed you.  By no coincidence that person was sent from God and in many cases both people bless each other . Special bonds are made between people who have the same interests and I am inspired by the relationship between Elisha and the woman from Shunem.  They both chose to be obedient to God and had complete faith in His power.  Elisha was a compassionate man.  He cared for the needs of the people around Him and He was so strong in His faith that nothing was impossible for God.  He was able to cure illness, raise people from the dead, saved a poor starving family, fed hundreds from only a little, and escaped death a few times in between.  God was with Elisha.  Elisha was not selective in the people he helped either.  Rich or poor, if the person was in need, he was willing to help.   Which brings me to the woman from Shunem.  She was a wealthy woman who invited Elisha into her home for a meal.  From then on every time Elisha entered the town she would invite him over until one day she asked her husband to build a small room for him to stay in when he visited (2 Kings 4:10).  She believed He was a holy man of God and knew the importance of serving him.  So by no coincidence Elisha was blessed by the woman whom he was drawn to bless.  God brought these two together because He saw a beautiful relationship that would result in protection for His children through a lifelong friendship that resulted in a lifetime of provision.

God has purpose in His action and He is always working for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28).  He loved Elisha and sent him someone to provide him food and shelter.  He loved the woman from Shunem and he provided her someone to bless her with a child, and then raise that same child from the dead years later.  Their meeting was not a coincidence!  God nudged their first encounter and sat back and watched His children obey His nudging.  Something we might call a divine appointment, these two met for a reason and stayed in each other's lives for a long while and God's many blessings were felt.  God takes care of His people for a lifetime and even when things don't seem like they are going well for you or when you think God has forgotten about you.........He hasn't.  There are people in your life that are there for reason or maybe someone is just around the corner for you to meet.

Elisha traveled and was in and out of the woman's life but he always showed up when he was needed.  Coincidence?  Of course not!  God was protecting His daughter.  One day Elisha told her to take her family and move someplace else because the Lord had called for a famine on Israel that would last for 7 years.  So she packed up her family and moved.  She trusted her friend and although she was wealthy and could have tried to survive with her money and many supplies, she listened to her special friend from God.  (Could it be that this was just the beginning of God First Friendships?)  When he spoke it was as if God was speaking to her and she trusted what he said was from God.  She obeyed Elisha because she knew that His power was from God and that God was with him.

After the famine ended she returned from the land of the Philistines, and she went to see the king about getting back her house and land.  As she came in, the king was talking to Gehazi, the servant of the man of God.  The king had just said, "Tell me some stories about the great things Elisha has done."  And Gehazi was telling the king about the time Elisha had brought a boy back to life.  At that very moment, the mother of the boy walked in to make her appeal to the king about her house and land.  

   "Look, my lord the king!' Gehazi exclaimed. "Here is the woman now, and this is her son - the very one Elisha brought back to life!"

  "Is this true?" the king asker her.  And she told him the story.  So he directed one of his officials to see that everything she had lost was restored to her, including the value of any crops that had been harvested during her absence. 

2 Kings 8:3-6

What a beautiful story of a strong friendship brought together by God!  A friendship that was not a coincidence........a meeting that was not by luck.........a beautiful plan orchestrated by God to provide for His children and make good happen for those who loved and obeyed Him.  Do you see people in your life this way?  Is there someone that always shows up at the "right time" or do you have a friend that you know God has put in your life for a reason?  God loves us!  He cares for us and He wants great and beautiful things for our lives.  Those amazing friends you have that always seem to show up at just the right time.......they are a gift from God!  It is beyond anything I could ever understand how God weaves our lives into one connected web of blessings!  He can bring two people together for just the right season and make things fall into place that were never imaginable!  Believe in His divine appointments.....follow your nudging to say hello to this person or smile at that one.....God is usually up to something :)