A "Save the Date" from God

Last weekend my daughter responded to a call to prayer by going up and kneeling at an altar with two friends. The oldest of the trio has been much like a mentoring peer to my daughter. She's responded to her hormonally-driven, pre-teen, angst-filled facebook posts with sound and sensitive advice. She's shared laughs with her, kept her secrets, and set her straight when needed. But for me, this past Sunday was a highpoint. She prayed with my daughter. I reflected in my seat and thanked God that He has brought such great friends our way.  As I've thought about that moment since then, I've been able to experience a blessing come around, full circle. This lovely young lady who knelt at the altar with my daughter is living up to a heritage of caring. It was her grandmother who led me to an altar about sixteen years ago. We were at a women's rally and an invitation to prayer was given. She came and fished me out of the crowd of women and walked with me to that sacred rail. We'd formed a friendship a few summers earlier. I had spent those summer months working as a Cadet assigned to her church. This woman took me under her wings. She took the time to get to know me. She was genuinely interested in me and encouraged me to listen for God's leading in my life. She was open about herself and she gave of herself. She made an investment in me that summer and she kept up with me over the following few years. By the time we met at that rally, she knew I'd been struggling with infertility. I don't actually remember talking with her about it, but she knew. And it was with that in mind that she invited me up to pray. We knelt and she interceded for me. She asked that I might receive the desire of my heart and she spoke it as if it were. It was powerful and I stood from there assured of God's care and provision. That next day I was looking through my Bible randomly trying to find something I could read before our congregation. It was probably 11:03am on Sunday morning, which will reveal a lot to all you church-goers. I was not concerned with what was in there for me, yet at that moment God led me to the 113th Psalm. I rose, moved to the pulpit and rather sanctimoniously (I confess) I read, "Praise the Lord. Praise, O servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord. Let the name of the Lord be praised, both now and forevermore...Who is like the Lord our God...who sits enthroned on high...who stoops down...raises the poor...lifts the needy...seats them with princes...He settles the barren woman in her home as a happy mother of children...."  "Wait, what? Go back. What did that say?" I just stood there staring at the page and then moved on. "Praise the Lord." That was Psalm 113, with a bunch of verses skipped, of course. I sat down, still on the platform but no longer part of what was going on around me. I'd closed the Bible and I started to wonder if I'd actually read those precise words. I thought I had conveniently just happened upon the Psalm and when I tried to find it again, I couldn't even remember what Psalm it was. Well, it's in there. But on that Sunday, at that moment, it was in there just for me. It was a direct answer to what we'd prayed about the day before and was like a "Save the Date" card without the date. It was as if God were saying, "I'm about to do this, you just pay attention and watch me." He's been true to His words in ways I could not have imagined. I'm amazed by this journey of joy He's set me on. I am so blessed. "God is not a man that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?" Numbers 23:19