Promptings
We had an amazing camping trip last weekend.
We weren’t sure we wanted to go and almost canceled several times.
It’s been a busy summer, school is about to start, and we’re tired. Like really tired.
Camping can be relaxing, but it’s also a lot of work.
There is ton to do to get ready and then you still have to cook, and clean, and watch the kids, and…well, you know, all the things.
But we decided to go and it turned out to be just what we needed. In fact, it provided the one thing we needed most - relaxation.
The kids were easily entertained and I got to sit on the banks of a river and just read or chat with Justin. Or the kids swam in the pool and Justin and I got to meet and talk with some really cool people from the other side of Nashville.
Either way, we were glad we decided to push through and not cancel this trip. We were suppose to be there, even though we didn’t know why.
But I think I do now.
God always seems to put you in just the right place at just the right time and He puts people in your path for a reason.
At check in, I met the woman who was in the campsite next to us - a site we had originally reserved for a friend but canceled a few days prior since they couldn’t use it.
I noticed how well behaved her dog was, sitting in their side-by-side, just chilling.
Turns out her dog and Indie were trained by the same people! (Indie has some catching up to do!)
We talked a little more, just casual surface level chit-chatting and she mentioned in passing that she had 3 children, well only two now, one had passed away.
It sounded recent, so I didn’t want to pry into a stranger’s life, but I expressed my condolences and then the conversation quickly moved to her camper and how they had gotten it after her son’s passing and it’d been a great distraction.
Well fast forward to the next day and Justin and the husband were chatting. They went to exchange numbers and Justin found out he already had the guy’s number! What? What a small world! Turns out, Justin had reached out to him about a job a while back.
Anyway, on our last morning there, as I was walking around the campground, the Holy Spirit said to pray for her. He gave me specific things to pray for and to say.
I wrestled a little with Him about this, because I didn’t know her. Do you mean just say a pray for her or with her? Who am I to get up in her business? What if she doesn’t want to talk about it? What if she isn’t receptive? I don’t want to make her cry by bringing up her son. What if these are just my own thoughts? What should I do???
But then I remembered all of y’all’s stories of how Holy Spirit prompted you to go out on a limb and how it was without fail a blessing.
If you can do it, so can I.
Besides, God doesn’t normally prompt me to go pray for strangers (thankfully! I’m way to shy and awkward!), so there must be a reason.
And I have a choice, am I going to be faithful and obedient or not?
We were about to leave, but I walked straight to her campsite.
She was standing in front of her camper, phone to her ear, waving at a car coming down the drive. Her daughter and son-in-law were arriving with all the goodies for their day on the river.
So it I did the next best thing.
Since Justin already had her husband’s number, I gave her a head’s up that he would be texting her husband and asking for her info. Not to worry. It’s for me. I wanted to send her something.
She looked a little surprised, but said okay. We shared a hug and then I jumped in our camper and left.
I immediately wrote out the prayer for her as Justin navigated the narrow back roads out of camp.
I sent her the prayer as soon as I got her information and then sat back worried how she would take it.
Was I too presumptive? Would she even read it? I’m such a nerd. She’s going to think I’m crazy.
Please tell me you can relate.
Regardless of my insecurities and doubts, I took comfort in the fact that I had followed through in what God had prompted me to do. He wouldn’t have given me the idea or the words if he didn’t want me to use them. And with that, the doubts faded into the background.
Turns out, it meant the world to her. She’d emailed me back and said she’d been struggling majorly the last week or so. She didn’t know why she had mentioned her son to me since she never says that to anyone. She said that she walked away wondering why in the world she had said it and felt foolish. She also shared that she woke up the next morning rested for the first time in a while.
Maybe it was the river? Maybe it was the fresh air? Or maybe God gently wrapped His arms around her that night and brought peace to her aching heart.
You choose what you think it is, but I clearly have my own opinion.
I don’t believe in coincidences, and for whatever reason, God wanted the two of us to meet.
Her daughter is pregnant and will have the first grandbaby of the family. That sweet baby girl will be named after her uncle and I love the name and what it represents.
I don’t know if I will ever meet this sweet baby girl or see her grandma again, but I have a suspicion our paths will cross again. Whether at a campsite or somewhere else, only time will tell. But I am glad our paths crossed at Piney River and that I listended to His promptings to get me out of myself.
I was hoping to bless her, but I wasn’t expecting God to bless both of us that day.
Has God ever stopped you and asked you to pray for someone? Or put someone on your heart randomly and you weren’t sure why, but you reached out to them and found out why?
