Divine Appointments
by Katherine Kehler
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“I will advise you and watch your progress.” (Psalm 32:8).
My seat was in row thirty-seven. It was in the back of the plane and I was thankful it was a non-smoking flight.
Mine was a window seat. The seat beside me had an "occupied" sign on it, so I knew that the occupant must have boarded the plane in another city.
The occupant turned out to be a woman, perhaps 45 years old. I smiled at her, but she did not return my smile. She seemed hard and cold.
My first reaction was feeling rejected. I felt like ignoring her the rest of the trip, but three and a half hours is a long time to sit beside a person without saying a word.
So I prayed.
"Lord, she has a wall about her and now I do too. Please take them both down."
I believe in divine appointments and ascertain that many of the people that come into our lives are sent from God.
As I sat there, I recalled something a seminar leader said. He said before he got up to speak, he would look over his audience and silently say, "I love you." He said it helped take down walls. So I tried that--I silently sent her messages of love.
We were both doing paper work.
At last we began to talk. Small talk. Where we lived. Where we had travelled. Her occupation.
She never asked what I did, for which I was sorry, because I wanted to talk to her about my faith in God.
Half an hour before we landed, I again prayed,
"Lord, so far there have been no natural openings to talk about you. If you want me to talk to her, you will have direct the conversation in that direction."
Then I relaxed.
She was a professor of History of Art, so I asked her if she knew of an artist I admired. He had a Mennonite upbringing. She didn't know him, but she did know some Mennonite folks.
When she discovered we travelled a lot, she asked if we travelled with or for the Mennonites. Here was my opening. I told her that we worked with Campus Crusade for Christ and because Marvin raised a lot of money for third world countries, we have to go and inspect to see if the money is managed well.
Then I gave her the booklet, "How to Know God Personally," and said the contents of the booklets were what we believed and taught.
She began to read it, but we were about to land. She asked if she could keep it because she wanted to read it.
With God's guidance and enablement, the wall that went up between us came down. He put love and concern in my heart for her and I was able to leave a booklet with her that clearly introduced her Jesus Christ.
Thank you Lord, for being our counsellor. Help us to remember to ask you for direction for the many decisions we have to make every day.
Related article:
How to tell your friend about Jesus
TODAY's Thought: Daily Devotional 
