There are those times in your life when you are certain that God has planned and orchestrated every moment. You can trace each moment – the good and seemingly bad – back to God’s design.
So much of life has these moments. Other moments seem quiet and quite uncertain. You wonder where God is and how you are going to navigate out of this crazy maze of life.
This weekend was more so like the former…it was quite incredible!
Eric and I spent the weekend exploring Seattle. We flew in and were staying downtown at the Alexis Hotel. We decided to opt out of a rental car because everything was within walking distance and/or close enough to take a taxi.
Our first taxi ride was so awesome. We got in late on Thursday night. At the sight of the first taxi available, we hopped in. He drove us to our hotel. While talking to him about the city and why we were there, we started to ask him questions about himself. Questions about his family. Questions about his job. He had an accent so we asked him where he was from, and how he got there?
His answer was: “The Lord.”
He was so bold, just like John the Baptist. Unsure about who was riding in his car, but certain that he had a message to tell. It was so amazing to see his faith and boldness no matter what the cost. I’m certain he could have lost his job if the wrong person hopped into his car and complained.
He went on to explain how he won a ‘lottery’ to get to America. His country, Eritrea, had some program that helped people get to America free of cost. Amazing that he won out of all his friends who filled out similar forms to be in the same lottery.
He explained how he grew up as a devout muslim and how one day he had a dream about John 14 and Jesus telling his disciples that he “is the way, the truth, and the life.” He explained how his religion at the time, Islam, always saw Jesus as a prophet but how this verse was Jesus calling to him and telling him that Jesus was the ONLY WAY, and not the prophet of Islam, Mohammad. He said his brother had been praying for him to come to faith in Jesus for so long. He explained that he began drinking at a young age…something ridiculous like 11 or 12 – I can’t remember exactly how young. When he awoke from this dream, he immediately believed in Jesus and immediately stopped drinking. We left so encouraged by his faith and boldness!
The next day, we planned on heading to the movies. Well, our plans got diverted. After putting in the address to what we thought was the theater for the Uber driver, Joseph, we ended up 40 minutes and $32.00 worth of an uber trip away from where we were supposed to go. It was out of our plan, but it was definitely planned by God. The man in the vehicle was a middle aged Iranian man. We again were talking to him about his life. Again the topic of Jesus came up and he shared with us about how he became a believer in Jesus. He grew up in Iran and 30 years ago came to the US.
His daughter ended up being diagnosed with Kidney disease of some sort. They had talked about removing the small, bad kidney, but that it would not necessarily guarantee health. They opted to continue with dialysis and skip surgery. They had pretty much tried everything and nothing worked. One of their friends said to them, “You have tried everything, why not try Jesus?” He grew up Muslim and did not want to try this. He did not believe in the power of Jesus. But after trying everything, he agreed to go to a church service with his family.
The guest pastor was on stage and said to the crowd: “I feel as though there is someone here who has a family member with a kidney problem.” They immediately knew it was about them. The pastor prayed over their daughter. They left the church that evening and forgot about it.
Weeks later, they went back to the hospital for their usual checkup and to get dialysis. The doctors asked them after some tests what they had done. Naturopathy? Oils? Etc? They said no to everything and forgot about the prayers said for his daughter. She was healed, but they did not remember at that moment how…
Later, Joseph ran into his friend who invited him to church. His friend asked how his daughter was doing and immediately remembered the prayers said for his daughter. His whole family became devout Christians following Christ with every part of their lives. Amazing!
We got diverted from the theater (40 minutes out of our way and a $32.00 trip hopefully to bless Joseph with some extra cash), to hear this amazing story.
Yesterday, we headed to the Space Needle. It was a short trip there, but the Uber driver was from…guess where…Eritrea. A small country that has only been a country since 1991. Yet, it felt like we were running into all those who are living in America now…crazy!
Lastly, on the way home, our driver was a really young girl. Maybe only 18 or 19…perhaps older, but by looks and demeanor, young. She was so so sweet. She was from Ethiopia which is just South of …you guessed it, ERITREA. She moved to America on her own and is still living on her own. I asked her if Seattle felt like home yet or if she was still having a hard time. She said, no, it wasn’t home yet. In Ethiopia, cost of living is so cheap it costs nothing to hire a maid to clean and a cook to prepare meals. In America, you have to do that all on your own. Not to mention, work hours and hours to just ‘make it.’
She then mentioned that she had cousins living in America, but that her mother and father and brothers and sisters lived back home. ‘Mothers make everything okay,’ she said, and I agreed fully. I then asked her if she had lots of friends here…and she sadly said, no. As she said this, we pulled up to our hotel. I tried to encourage her and gave her some advice to find a church because a church community and Jesus make almost everything better. She pointed to her cross. We left saying, “God Bless.”
This weekend has been so amazing and so encouraging. Not only did I get to spend quality one-on-one time with my husband for our two year anniversary, but I got to be encouraged in my faith, and see God bless us with amazing stories of his work in others lives. We got to our hotel room last night and were just so in shock by all the connections and amazing stories that God had weaved for us to see. You can’t help but wonder how these people’s lives will turn out in 2 years, 5 years, 10 years, 20 years…50 years from now. Will I bump into them again someday? Only God knows.
Even if I do not bump into them on this side of heaven, I know that I will get to see many of them in heaven walking the streets of gold with me. Amazing!
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