Okay, God, I get it!

Okay. Did you know that God has the best sense of humor?
When we went to London (as mentioned in my last post), I had arrived in the city and was like, “God, if there is anyone you want me to talk to today, then just let me know and I’ll do it.” But as the day wore on, I stopped being attentive to Him and quit listening to see if there was anyone He wanted me to approach. That night, after arriving back at Harpenden, I felt bad that I had been so ignorant and the next morning when I was doing my devotions I asked God to forgive me for ignoring Him the day before. As I sat there under the tree, I said, “Lord, today I am going to Luton, so if there is anyone you want me to talk to, please make it undeniably clear so that I don’t miss the opportunity again.”
When we got to Luton, Lexa n I decided we wanted to go see Robin Hood, but turned out that the movie didn’t start for almost 3 hours. I thought it was odd that a movie so new to theatres had so few viewing times. Since we had a while to kill, the two of us just hung out at the mall, but after about an hour, neither of us wanted to be there anymore. (Never thought I’d ever say that I didn’t feel like being at a mall!) So we decided to just sit on the couch in an open coffee shop that was situated in the middle of the mall. We had been sitting for about a half hour in silence, just watching people walking past, when a lady in her 50’s came in and asked if the chair across from us was taken. I glanced around the coffee shop and noticed that the entire place was empty and there were at least 40 or 50 other chairs that she could have chosen to sit in. With a smile that she probably perceived as polite, but which was really just me laughing at God’s obvious hint, I welcomed her to join us.
I engaged her just in small chat about the day and before I knew it, she started just sharing about her daughters, her late husband, and the painful eye infection she was trying to deal with. She told us how painful it was (which I don’t doubt – it was really red and swollen) and that the medication the doctor had given her wasn’t working.
After a little while, we figured we should probably go so we could get to the theatre early enough to get good seats for the movie. I figured maybe God only wanted me to bring joy to someone by brightening their day by allowing them to just talk. We said our good-byes, but as we were leaving, I felt such a heaviness and something told me we weren’t supposed to leave yet. I turned to Alexa to tell her what I felt when suddenly she looks at me and is like, “we were supposed to pray for her. We should go back.” So we turned around and went back to the coffee shop. As we entered, she looked up and smiled, saying , “welcome back, girls.”
We sat down on either side of her and I said, “my friend and I are Christians and were just wondering if you would like us to pray for your eye?”
She seemed a little surprised at first, but then enthusiastically agreed. After we prayed for her, it opened the doors to a long conversation about Christianity and the Church. She began to share how she no longer attended church because the one she went to had not welcomed her well due to her two girls not being christened when they were younger. She talked about how her mom, who grew up in a very traditional church setting, disproved of her parenting and they had a strained relationship due to their different beliefs about church and religion. It was amazing how God opened the door for us to share with her about what we believe, and how Jesus taught the church to be welcoming of all people, no matter who they are or what they have or have not done. We got to share that God is a God of love, and not of judgement or condemnation.
We never prayed with her to accept Jesus as Lord of her life, but we were able to plant seeds that we prayed would be watered by more people that God would bring across her path.
That night, I thanked God for clearly communicating who He had wanted me to talk to. I thought about what would have happened if I hadn’t stepped out in that opportunity, or if I had disobeyed God by not returning when I knew I was supposed to go back.