Recently, I had the most amazing phone conversation with someone I have never met. In fact, this lady began her call by telling me she knew nothing about me until someone gave her one of my business cards and told her she should invite me to speak at her club. As we talked, I remembered how, the previous week after I spoke somewhere else, another lady came up to me, introduced herself and asked if she could take one of my cards for her friend who was always looking for good speakers for her own club. Of course, I was happy for her to do that, but even as we chatted, I wondered if she would indeed remember to pass it on. Sometimes, people make such statements but may not follow through.
This time around, however, my doubts were ill-founded. As the phone conversation continued, my caller explained she had now checked out my website and would be very interested to have me come and speak and to meet me.
‘I find it very hard to get speakers,’ she said. ‘I have a long list of them but none of their topics seemed to jump out at me. Could you perhaps come to our club in May?’
She suggested a certain date which, miraculously, was still free in my diary.
‘That’s so wonderful!’ she blurted out then. ‘I have just come back from a bus trip and, all the way home, I was thinking over and over, “Who can I get to speak?” and praying hard too. Oh – it’s like you’ve fallen from the sky for me!’
I am sure no one else has ever said such a thing to me before. I laughed, but she insisted that was what it felt like to her. ‘You’re definitely an answer to prayer,’ she then added with relief.
We went on to discuss which of my talks I would give on the day, but even at the end of our conversation, she was still marvelling how I had ‘literally’ fallen from the sky for her and how God had provided her with a speaker at just the right moment.
At the time of our phone call, we had visitors in our home, so I then shared this story with them. We discussed the interesting theology behind the idea of someone falling from the sky – but we knew what this lady meant and rejoiced with her at the amazing way God answers our prayers.
Later, her joy over this whole event caused me to think further about answers to prayer I have seen in my own life – and also to wonder how many I may have missed noticing altogether. At times, I suspect I can pray about something but, when the answer comes, I can, to my shame, forget God’s part in it altogether. I may attribute it merely to good management on my part – or perhaps even to chance or coincidence. As a result, how many wonderful ‘falling from the sky’ moments have I missed? And how thankless I have been towards God too.
I hope I have learnt my lesson. I hope I will rejoice and be thankful much more often in future.
I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds. Psalm 9:1
Jo-Anne Berthelsen's Blog 