The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.
Psalm 37:23 (NLT)
What follows is a story that suggests God directs our steps a bit more than we normally might believe. It all started when, during our morning devotions, Bonnie asked me if we should pray for God.
“Don’t you mean pray to God?” I asked.
“No. I think God must feel sad when he sees all the conflict in His world. Jesus wept when he saw the pain of Mary and Martha. Don’t you think God is paying attention to everything going on in our world today and weeping along with us?”
You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle.
You have recorded each one in your book. Psalm 56:8
“If you feel the Holy Spirit is guiding you to pray for God, I offered. “We should pray for God.”
Bonnie responded hesitantly, “God is all-powerful. I’m not sure he needs our prayers; … gonna pray anyway!
Skip forward to that afternoon. The phone rang and Bonnie noticed it was a call from Kaiser. She had cataract surgery on her right eye in February, but due to the Coronavirus, the surgery on her left eye has been delayed with no idea when it might be rescheduled. Consequently, she has trouble reading road signs, which can make driving in unfamiliar areas difficult. She needed glasses and had made an appointment with Lens Crafters, since getting an appointment with her optometrist, Dr, Chang, seemed unlikely.
After speaking with a Kaiser representative, Bonnie shouted, “It’s a miracle! Not only do I have an appointment to get my eyes examined — the appointment is with Dr. Chang, and it’s at 3:20 tomorrow, the exact time as my Lens Crafters appointment, which I just canceled.”
After her eye exam, Bonnie gave olive wood crosses to her doctor and to a young man, named Joe B, who helped her pick out new frames. They were discussing how much the coronavirus had upset everything when Joe B mentioned that his father was in critical condition in a hospital in Chicago, and no one in the family had been allowed to visit him.
“Would you and your husband please pray that he passes peacefully, with no pain? Joe asked.
“Of course. Would you like to pray right now?”
He nodded yes.
Bonnie touched his hand. “What is your father’s name?
“His name is Gaud.”
Repeating his pronunciation, she asked. “Your dad’s name is God?”
Bonnie told me she got goosebumps. Perhaps this was the Gaud she had been directed to pray for.
For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.
Philippians 2:13 (NLT)
Coincidence or God’s plan? When Bonnie asked if we should pray for God, we assumed she was supposed to pray for G-O-D, not G-A-U-D. Who would have known she would end up at Kaiser rather than at Lens Crafters? Who would have known that one of the people who helped her at Kaiser would ask for prayers for his dying father — a father whose name just happens to be Gaud?
God knew!
As I was sitting down to finish typing this story, Bonnie called me all excited. “I got a call from Kaiser. My eye surgery has been scheduled for July 15th. If they had called last week, I wouldn’t have had a chance to pray to God for Gaud.”
We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps. Proverbs 16:9
Blessings,
Don & Bonnie
Because He Loves Us Press 