Li-tea-ra-ture

(Image courtesy of Boians Cho Joo Young at FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

Instead of another narrative, this time I want to list all the other things God did, too many and too pertinent to wave away. Some may say there were just coincidences, but I like to think of them as God-incidences or divine appointments. Each one is special to me in its own way. I still marvel at the way I feel and my freedom to live and move and breathe.

Recounting all that God has done renews my faith, and I hope it encourages yours. Our God loves us more than we can ever imagine! His hand in my life—and in yours—is evident by watching for his loving gifts each and every day.

• On Tuesday, two days before my healing, Tom and I chose a Gideon from Botswana to take to dinner on Saturday night (two days after my healing). When we met David, we learned that he and Geoffrey were sharing a hotel room. They had been paired and placed together by the hotel as singles wanting to share a room.
• When I checked my appointment book I discovered I had been scheduled for an appointment with my cardiologist at close to the exact time that I was, instead, healed. (He is the doctor I saw one week later.)
• Friends of ours who were attending the convention only on Thursday, hoped to be able to meet up with us. Not only did they find us, but God directed them to enter the hotel through a door that led them to where we were waiting to be seated for lunch. They were able to rejoice with us over my healing but also had the opportunity to meet and talk with Geoffrey.
• A woman I’d met at the Gideon state convention had heard of my healing and wanted to talk to me. She asked the Lord to let us find each other. In a room of over 1000 women, we ended up next to each other on the way out of a session. God blessed us with an hour of sweet fellowship over tea.
• As I waited for Tom to bring the car to the hotel to load up and go home, I told one of the valets about my miraculous healing. He was not a Christian but was intrigued by my story. He’d already been given a testament and told me he was interested in reading it. I encouraged him. After we spoke was when his name finally hit me—Joi! Please pray for this precious young man to come to know true joy in Jesus!
• As word of my healing spread through my church after I got home, a friend who advises our youth called and asked if I would share my testimony at one of their weekly meetings. They’d had an advisory meeting to plan the fall schedule and decided for the first time to ask people from the congregation to tell their stories. She checked her calendar, and we discovered this decision was made on the day of my healing.