Son Jon, who is the men’s Celebrate Recovery leader at Trading Ford Baptist Church, had spent hours moving trash and debris from his sister-in-law’s property when he backed over something and ripped a hole in his tire. Unable to pry the spare tire from underneath the truck bed, he called wife Kandee and son Jonathon.

When they arrived, the three of them spent another hour and finally got the spare from its casing  and put it on the truck. After traveling only a few miles toward home, though, the very old spare went flat. Stranded on the side of the road, exhausted and annoyed, Jon stayed with the truck while Kandee and Jonathon headed back home for a second spare.

What started out as a good deed had turned into a nightmare! Tired and frustrated, impatient Jon stood by the truck and began to pray. Out of the blue, he looked up and saw a man standing in his driveway a few feet away. To his amazement, he recognized the man—a friend from the past.

Walking up the hill toward the man, Jon could tell by his appearance that he was not well. Turns out the man—I’ll call him Bill–had a very serious, painful illness. Fearful of taking too much pain medication because of an addiction to pain killers, Bill had reverted to alcohol to help relieve his pain. As they stood in the yard, Jon prayed with him and encouraged him—a blessing to them both. An afternoon of aggravating circumstances had turned into a powerful ministry opportunity.

As I heard Jon tell of his divine appointment with joy and enthusiasm, I was amazed at how the Lord had turned a very frustrating day into a time of ministry. In retrospect, the Scriptures have many examples of divine appointments. Philip, for example, was busy preaching in Samaria when the Lord nudged him to go south. There he met an Ethiopian eunuch who was struggling with understanding a passage in the book of Isaiah and needed instruction. Philip taught him and ultimately led him to Christ. The eunuch was baptized and left his encounter with Philip rejoicing. (Acts 8:26-40).

Then there was Paul who was on his way to Bithynia. In a vision, though, the Lord redirected him to Macedonia where he met Lydia and a group of women by the river. He preached to them and led them to Christ. Leaving there, he encountered a young girl who was demon possessed. When he drove the demons from her, he ended up beaten and in jail—some payment for his good deed! (Acts 16:16-40)

Third there was Esther. An orphaned Jewish girl being raised by an uncle, she ended up as queen in the king’s court. Through a series of events, she was given the opportunity to save her people from annihilation. Her uncle Mordecai said to her at one point:

“If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14)

“For such a time as this.” Have you ever had a divine appointment and followed the Lord’s lead only to be blessed beyond measure for your faithfulness? Philip, Paul, and Esther listened to the Lord’s prompting and blessed others while they also blessed themselves.

Oh, they had difficulties in the process. Esther had to overcome her fears. Philip had to leave a place of successful ministry and move to a desolate location far from home.

Paul endured a beating and a night in prison for his good deed.

And Jon? He did a good deed for his sister-in-law only to endure two flat tires and end up unknowingly stranded on the side of the road adjacent to the house of a friend in need–a divine appointment for sure! What a blessing in disguise!

Focus on the Family explains:

“A divine appointment is a meeting with another person that has been specifically and unmistakably ordered by God. Yet I sometimes wonder how many of these supernaturally scheduled meetings I’ve missed because I didn’t have my spiritual radar turned on.”

How about you? Do you ever wonder how many divine appointments we miss because we won’t listen, we’re afraid, we don’t want to be inconvenienced, we’re too busy, or we’re just plain lazy?

I pray that we will all be more in tune with the Holy Spirit as we seek to be obedient until we are miraculously transported to our final destination and new home in heaven.

Have you had a divine appointment you’d like to tell others about? I’d greatly appreciate your sharing your experience, strength, and hope with other readers and with me. Many blessings!