Do you ever get a thought that goes through your head that seems random and doesn’t make much sense? These thoughts or nudges can come with a compulsion to do something that you didn’t intend to do or that causes your feet to take you where you didn’t intend to go.
I have learned throughout the years to pay attention to these random thoughts because often they are not my thoughts but rather the voice of God leading me to do something that I wasn’t expecting to do.
God loves to interrupt our plans in order to bring forth his purposes.
Today I was remembering one particular time that this happened, and once again I was surprised by how he leads and how he speaks.
One day, I was walking around a beauty/make-up store with my daughter. As she shopped, I wandered around separate from her, and as I did, I spotted a lady standing at the counter of their hair salon. I had one of those random thoughts come into my mind: “Ask her about their pricing.”
Though I did need my hair done, at that moment, it wasn’t in my budget or in my plans to schedule one. Additionally, I had my own regular hairdresser whom I loved. But I was compelled to ask the prices (which were higher than what my personal hairdresser charged), and for reasons unbeknownst to me, I found myself making an appointment to have my hair done by her!
Why? I walked away perplexed and wondering why in the world I listened to that random thought.
The appointment was to be two days later, and over those next two days, numerous unexpected things happened in my life that cost my husband and me hundreds of dollars, including my husband dropping his contact lens and stepping on it…costing us over $300. I concluded that I would for sure cancel the hair appointment because now it really wasn’t in the budget! But every time I went to cancel it, I would hesitate and feel compelled to hold off a bit longer.
Finally, the day of the appointment came, and I had 101 reasons to cancel it! They were all legitimate and good reasons. But I felt that familiar nudge to keep moving forward with it.
When the day of the appointment came, I still felt compelled to go. Only ten minutes after sitting down in her chair— the Lord showed up. This hairdresser had been raised as a Jehovah’s Witness, and she had been raising her children in the same religion. But something deep within her was troubling her. She felt empty and was crying for a real relationship with God, but she only knew rules and religion.
She shared with me that after her marriage fell apart, she began to ask questions about if Jesus was truly God or merely a “god” as taught in the religious organization she grew up in.
She was on a journey to seek out truth, and she had just prayed for God to send her someone with the answers to her questions.
That was when God had me sit down in her chair to get my hair done. For the next three hours, what we shared went so deep. As she worked on my hair, she kept a tissue box nearby because tears were pouring down her face. I had stepped into a divine appointment— not because I needed my hair done but because the amazing God of mercy and grace heard the cry of this woman and answered it by interrupting my thoughts with his plans. In those few hours, this woman found who her heart was longing for! What was masked as a hair appointment was really a God appointment.
So, when a seemingly random thought comes into your mind, you may want to pay attention. That thought may be God’s voice!
It may go against your plans and not make sense to you, but God may be ordering your steps into a divine appointment.
If I had given in to my common sense or even my budget, I would have missed being the answer to her prayer. Though God would have found another way to reach her, I wouldn’t have had the honor of being the one to watch her encounter the love of God and hear His truth for the first time.
I am eternally grateful to the people who allowed their paths to be interrupted and shared the love of God with me when I was a lost and troubled teenager. Those first encounters with unconditional love and truth changed my life. I’m sure that I was not a part of their plans, but they stepped into a divine appointment planned by our loving Father!
As believers, we commit our plans to the Lord and ask him to order our steps. And he does! As we make ourselves willing to follow the nudges of His Spirit to walk in directions we hadn’t planned, we always end up right where He needs us to be.
We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.” Proverbs 16:9 Some versions say, “…establishes our steps.”
You may be the answer to someone else’s prayers. His steps for you may not make practical sense, but listen to that still, small voice that nudges you— then watch what he will do.
Divine appointments await you as you make your plans and ask the Lord to always order your steps!
Kathi’s new book SEVEN LETTERS has just been released. Within the pages of this book is the counsel of the Lord for His Church— yesterday, today, and forever.
Purchase here.
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on Inscribe Ministries
Featured Image by Adam Winger on Unsplash
Comments are closed.