In the Right Place at the Right Time

Have you ever wanted to find someone from your past that you've lost contact with? I know I have, and with the internet at our fingertips it is much more possible now than it was a few years ago. There was a young woman I met when I was a child who was instrumental in my becoming a Christian. I wish that I could find her and tell her how she helped me.

I was 11 or 12 years old -- every summer my sisters and I would get to go visit our grandparents and spend a week at their house. During our visit that summer, my grandmother told us she was going to have another visitor staying at her house and she warned us to be on our best behavior. The other visitor was a college student who was serving at my grandparents' church as a summer missionary. This young lady, Ginger, was going to be in charge of the Vacation Bible School, and of course my grandmother took us to it each day. As kids we loved VBS because there were fun things to do, crafts to make and snacks to eat. Notice I left out the most important part which is Bible stories, but I think as a child, it was the fun things that drew us to VBS. However, it was during the Bible story time when Miss Ginger was teaching at that little country church in the middle of nowhere Alabama that the Holy Spirit opened the eyes of my heart to the truth of salvation. It was right during that lesson that I realized for the first time that I was a sinner who needed forgiveness and that could only come through faith and belief in Jesus Christ. I didn't tell Miss Ginger what had happened and I didn't tell my grandmother. But after I was back at home, I told my parents that I was ready for our pastor to come and talk to me. They arranged for him to come to our house, and the next Sunday I went to the front of the church at the end of the service to make my public profession of faith. Miss Ginger never got to know that the Lord had used her in such a way to water the seeds that had already been planted in my life. I wish that I could find her and tell her what a difference it made in my life for her to work in that little country church that one summer.

Do you ever wonder why God has placed you where you are? For example, do you wonder why he has you in a certain job situation, or why you have to be in contact with certain difficult people on a regular basis? Maybe it is because God chose you to be the person to make a difference is someone's life and it requires you to be in that particular place. I remember always questioning myself when I had my first big job after graduating from college about whether I had chosen the right job. There had been another job I could have taken that was in my field of study. I prayed for God's guidance to help me choose the right job, but I always questioned whether I made the right choice. But now I realize that God did guide me, and maybe I made a difference in someone's life at that time.

I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 1 Corinthians 3: 6-7