Surprises by God

Surprises don’t just come from people, they also come from above. It’s a total God thing. Today I’m excited to share a story about a surprise I got from God this past weekend. I still can’t believe it. I’m still smiling because, well, you’ll see why.

True Story Ahead

This past weekend I was a speaker at the 2018 Set Apart Conference, a faith-filled conference for women.

• On October 19, I found out my workshop proposal was approved.
• On October 20, God led me to some Scripture that I know He wanted me to use in the workshop.
• On October 21, I heard a song called “No Longer Slaves.” This song became MY song of encouragement and declaration during the last 4+ months as I prayed about my workshop.

Many know the month February was a challenging month for me as I was fighting two kinds of flu. Then I found out my Mom was sick. With both joy and sorrow in my heart, I said good-bye to my Mom on February 24 as she left us and went to heaven. Joy because I know she got to see Jesus that day and my Dad, and she was no longer suffering. Sorrow because I won’t get to see her or talk to her any more in this world. I miss her dearly already.

While I had prayed a lot about this workshop and what to include, I didn’t start working on it until the weekend of Feb. 10-11. I figured I had plenty of time to develop the entire workshop. Little did I know that I would come down with the flu and be in bed, followed by traveling to SD to be with my Mom and family until March 1.

When I returned home, I was physically and emotionally exhausted, full of sorrow. While I could have cancelled my speaking engagement (although that would not have been the right thing to do), I hunkered down to finally develop my workshop. Of course, I also had to work my full-time job, so that only left one weekend and four evenings.

Almost every day I’ve listened to my song, “No Longer Slaves,” which is by the musical band, I Am They, not Rend Collective like I mentioned live in my workshop. But that’s a blog post for another day. 🙂

Four months I listened to this song. The last week before the conference I have no idea how many times I listened to this song to inspire me and remind me what God had done in my life.

This song became such a part of the development of my workshop that I wanted to play the song at the end of my workshop. Unfortunately, due to time, technology, and oh, something called “copyright laws,” I couldn’t make it work. Instead, I prayed the lyrics of the song at the end of my workshop.

Enter God’s Surprise

It was the end of the two-day conference. I had just finished my last workshop and returned to the main auditorium to listen to the final keynote speaker, Liz Curtis Higgs. We were told to not leave after she spoke because there would be one more song.

Liz no more than finished and the band started playing a melody. I heard familiar notes. I looked up and what did I see on the screens, but the words to MY song, “No Longer Slaves!” My heart skipped a beat! I excitedly said to my friends sitting with me, “This is my song! This is MY song!”

They looked at me, smiled, and rejoiced with me. They knew how much this song had encouraged me throughout the last several months. They knew how much I wanted to play the song at my workshop.

Could it get any better than this? The whole auditorium filled with women didn’t just hear this song, but were singing it!

I was overjoyed! What a gift God gave me!

The Lord Delights in Us (and I think surprising us)

You know, there is no way the worship band knew anything about me wanting to play this song during my workshop or the fact that I had prayed the lyrics during each of my workshops. But God knew, and He knew how much this song could encourage every woman there with truth and hope.

I love how God surprises us. He delights in us. He rejoices over us.

Zephaniah 3:17 – “The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.”

Do you know the worship band had a different song chosen, but the worship leader changed her mind the morning of? Do you see how God works? He waits right up on until the 11th hour so that He will be glorified because He is the only One who could have orchestrated that happening.

I just love how God surprises!

I think I’m going to go listen to MY song now.

One more thing before I go, expect to be surprised by God. And when He does surprise you, tell others, share the joy! It’s so much fun to share joy!

P.S. My Mom would have thought this was a fantastic surprise by God!