God Appointments

---

Genesis 4:9 -11     Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?”  He said, “I do not know.  Am I my brother’s keeper?”  And He said, “What have you done?  The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground.  So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.   

Genesis 6:14-17     Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch.  And this is how you shall make it: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits.  You shall make a window for the ark and you shall finish it to a cubit from above; and set the door of the ark in its side.  You shall make it with lower, second, and third decks.  And behold, I Myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything on earth shall die.

Genesis 7:1-4, 8-9      Then the LORD said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation.  You shall take with you seven each of every clean animal, a male and his female; also seven each of birds of the air, male and female, to keep the species alive on the face of all the earth.  For after seven more days I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will destroy from the face of the earth all living things that I have made.” . . . Of clean animals, of animals that are unclean, of birds, and of everything that creeps on the earth, two by two they went into the ark to Noah, male and female, as God had commanded. 

Genesis 12:1-3      Now the LORD had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you.  I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”   

Exodus 3:2-5, 7-8     And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush.  So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed.  Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.”  So when the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!”  And he said, “Here I am.”  The He said, “Do not draw near this place.  Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is hold ground.” . . . And the LORD said: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.  So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittities and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites.                    

Exodus 7:14-Exodus 12:39      So the LORD said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is hard; he refuses to let the people go.  Go to Pharaoh in the morning, when he goes out to the water, and you shall stand by the river’s bank to meet him; and the rod which was turned inro a serpent you shall take in your hand . . . And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they had brought out of Egypt; for it was not leavened, because they were driven out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared provisions for themselves

1 Kings 19:11-13      Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the LORD.”  And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.  So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave.  Suddenly a voice came to him, and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

Matthew  4:18-22,       And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

Matthew 9:9-13      As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office.  And He said to him, “Follow Me.”  So he arose and followed Him.

Mark 1:16-18      And as He walked by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.  Then Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” They immediately left their nets and followed Him.   

John 4;4     But He needed to go through Samaria.  . . . A woman of Samaria came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” . . .

Acts 9:3-9       As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven.  Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”  And he said, “Who are You, Lord?”  Then the LORD said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.  It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”  So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?”  Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go onto the city, and you will be told what you must do.” . . .

 

In early March, I awoke on a Sunday morning, greeted the day and God, but felt tired, with no purpose, and as though I did not want to go to church.  I was not doing coffee service that morning so maybe it would be okay to skip service today?  I never feel like missing church and my community.  But this particular Sunday, I just felt “BLAH” and did not want to go to church, not do my regular Sunday routine.  But then I felt a feeling of guilt.  How could I miss celebrating Sunday with my church communality?  Although I was not working coffee preparation that morning, I was in that area, that when Pastor Bobby spotted me and asked me if he could have a moment to talk with me.

I readily agreed, and my mind smiled since I almost had not come to church that day.  He told me that he had asked around for someone to do the secretarial work to cover two important meetings for the church, and two separate people had quickly recommended me and my name.  After a couple of questions being answered, I agreed to the position he asked me to consider.  And immediately I thought how I had not wanted to come to church this morning.  But God had whispered that I should go, and I had gotten out of bed, done my usual routine, dressed and walked the dog, and came in and had my first cup of coffee.  But knew I was going to church.  God had urged me to get out of bed, and conduct my normal morning and get ready for church.  

My pastor had asked me to consider doing a volunteer position.  That position sounded a bit challenging, but also appropriate for some of my stronger skills.  I am an organizer, I write fairly well, and I like details, keeping things in order.  And it made me smile, and think, “Thank You, God.  You know I had no energy; did not want to attend church this morning.  But  God had a purpose that morning.  I complied without knowing exactly why, but now, God had brought the pastor to me with a request.  And I had accepted.  I was pleased to hear the pastor had received my name from two other persons who knew me, some of my talents and felt a little humor at God that He had planned the encounter, and I was able to recognize it immediately.  I had a God appointment.

I have had many God urgings.   I knew I was NOT supposed to marry my first husband.  Although at this first point, I had not seen a lot of his more violent tendencies, I had an unease.   My parents had not liked him or been at ALL in favor of this marriage.  Being almost nineteen and knowing ALL, I had insisted on marrying him, probably just because my parents were so concerned.   In hindsight, I was such a brat during this time.  I didn’t rant and rave; I spoke quietly, but insistently that this was the man I wanted to make my Prince Charming.   But he did not have enough to be a Prince Charming.

I desperately wanted to have a marriage like my parents had.  Growing up, when friends would question whenever they came to our home if my parents always acted like they were on a honeymoon.  My father would enter the kitchen on a Saturday while she was beginning to cook dinner, then reach down and kiss the back of her neck, and she would turn and give him a kiss on the cheek, and then they would each continue to whatever they had been doing prior to this small, brief interlude.   My friends did not have parents who showed their brief moments of affection to one another, so seeing my parents offer these moments made them smile, but also wonder if this was  a regular occurrence in our home.   And it was

I was a little fearful, which grew rapidly one evening when I shared my hesitations.  He had threatened me, the biggest threat was that he would tell his mother to tell the folks at the psych hospital that I was in danger of harming myself, and was acting crazy.  I believed him, and I feared that he and his mother would lie and try to have me committed and then I would never be able to get out.  I believed him when he said his mother would lie and say anything he wanted her to say.  I knew she thought her eldest son could do no wrong and she would do anything for him.   Unsteadily, and frightened, I finally agreed to go through with the wedding. 

Shortly after this, when I was still unsure and anxious about going through with the marriage, my father now agreed to walk me down the aisle.  Yikes, I was hoping I could still back out of the wedding because my parents were not in favor.  

I knew they STILL did not like him, like the idea of me marrying him, but they chose to support me.   Standing in the back of the church in the borrowed pretty gown, I turned to my father.  “Maybe I shouldn’t do this.”  But now, I did not want it, I was afraid of this man I had argued to marry.   Yet I had seen temper and violence.  That morning, I knew I could run with my father beside me; alone I was too afraid of him and his mother.   

But my father reassured me, it was probably nerves, and I never told him during those brief moments that I was afraid of the man, not just the ceremony.

We had a brief honeymoon after in a nearby hotel, and two days later were coming back.  Suddenly, my gold wedding band fell off my finger in three separate and equal pieces.  I gave a brief, disbelieving chuckle and showed it to him.  HIs immediate questions was what I had done to it.  And my stunned response was what could one do to break solid gold ring in 3 equal parts.  We went to the jeweler who was stunned.  There were no marks of any kind of damage, nothing to warp the ring from a circular shape when pieces were placed back in align.   The jeweler was also amazed, and agreed to give us a new one.  When asked if I wanted the same engraving on it–I said no engraving.  It all felt like hypocrisy.  But I knew God had broken the ring to show me that this was not His design for my life.  I was unsure how to get out of it, and I was scared.  I did not want to be disobedient to God, but I feared this man.  And I had been raised with the idea that marriage was a commitment for life.

I have gone to events I really did not feel like attending.  My mental plan has been to stay for an hour to an hour and a half, then make excuses and leave.  Each time, I have met someone who needed a shoulder and an ear, just needed to share as they were new to the area, were stressed and needed a hand getting groceries in.  They were not big encounters, but each time, I knew He was saying, “See, I needed you to be there.”  

I still like my quiet times, and remain shy about reaching out and jumping forward to get involved, but have found that when encouraged, He has a plan, and I am so glad to have engaged in whatever He arranged.  Lord, thank You for my God appointments when I have been able to give some minor assistance to another; it is a satisfying feeling.  A reward.  You have always been there guiding me and urging me forward for me and ‘mybellaviews.’