Nothing happens by chance....

Every single day, every single moment of our life has been planned out for us.  Every breathe we will take, has been carefully measured.  The longer I live the more I realize that nothing ever happens by chance, coincidence, accident.  Everything is intentional.  Where we live, the neighbors we have, the friends we meet, the people who sit in the pew next to us, our bus driver in middle school, the teachers we have.  Sometimes even people that enter somebody else's life.  I think about the elderly neighbor across the street, its no 'luck' or 'chance' that she is in my life - God knows I need to help her as much as she needs the help.  It wasn't by chance the therapists who worked with my dad at Brooks - they weren't even the therapists he was originally going to have - he got moved to a different hallway, had a new team and some of them impacted my life in deep ways, it was about my dad, but it impacted me too. It was no accident.  I think about my dad suffering this stroke and how it has pushed me in a direction that I wasn't previously traveling.  It was intentional, even if it is very confusing and has drastically changed our lives in the process.  I think about the connections we make with others.  

And today I was once again reminded about how we end up right where we need to be.  We took the boys out for a walk on a new nature trail that really turned into a disaster because we all got covered in ticks.  I have never seen so many ticks in my life. I still feel itchy even though I know we went to great lengths to ensure that all the ticks have been removed.  Anyways, it was time with Dennis and the boys that we will probably never forget.  On the way home Dennis wanted to stop and get some scratch off lotto tickets, I couldn't justify spending $30 on something that you have no guarantee you will at least get the $30 back....I might have been being difficult....he reminded me that it wasn't money we were counting on and that he wanted to stop and get some - but he wanted me to go in and pick them out because I always pick the winner.  I had a big attitude about this, let out a big sigh as I got out of the car, and as soon as I stepped into that convenience store, I realized it was right where I needed to be.  The lady who walked in before did not have any arms, she stopped and opened the door with her foot - I was impressed with her flexibility.  She asked the lady behind the counter for help pumping gas but the lady said she couldn't leave the store and was by her self. I stepped up and told her I would help her.  I got the scratch offs and then followed her out, she already had the gas cap off and gave me her card with her foot, gave me her zip code.  As the gas was pumping we talked about the weather - she likes the sun as much as I do and said she is ready for more sunny days.  I gave her the receipt, she thanked me for helping her and talking with her and not making her feel different.  The fact that she thanked me for not making her feel different was sad to me. Why should anybody be treated any differently because they are differently- abled?  I felt like I had done my good deed for the day.  My heart felt so full and happy. For those of you who know me, you know how far out of my comfort zone this was - talking to a stranger?!?!  But then again helping others is not something that is out of my comfort zone.  

I realized that God put me right where I needed to be, even if it wasn't where I wanted to be at first. I started thinking about how many other times in life that God put me right where he knew I needed to be, even if I had an attitude, or didn't want to be there, or didn't see the point.... I am glad that my husband kept pushing for the stupid lotto tickets - oh and guess what we got $20 back....but really we got more than that - I got the opportunity to show up right where God needed me.