Saturday, May 22, 2010

Divine Appointments

Do you believe in divine appointments?

Have you ever had a coincidence that was so special that you thought it couldn't just be a coincidence?  That maybe God played a role in orchestrating the whole thing?  Some people think that it's just incredible luck, but I think it's more than that.

I believe in divine appointments.  I believe that God puts people and situations in your life for a purpose.  In the last couple few months, things have happened in my life that made me go "Hmmm...... what's HE up to?"

Here are just a few "coincidences":
  • A couple of weeks before I left my job last year, Ro, a gal on my team that I had worked with for more than 5 years, and I started chatting.  The topic of kids came up and eventually we both cautiously revealed that we both have had TTC issues.  It's funny how we never talked about this until right before I left the company.  Maybe it makes it easier because I was leaving the company.  She has told me how nice it is to be able to talk to another person about her struggles and feelings, since all her other friends and family already has kids.  I also referred her to my doc that eventually performed her laparascopy.  We still meet up for lunch to chat.  I hope I can be a source of support for her.
  • I met Kristi at a Chipot.le restaurant because there were no seats available.  She offered to share a table with me and we started chatting.  To make a long story short, we found out we clicked like old friends, met up for coffee and found out we had a lot in common.  She is an acupuncturist, has had 3 miscarriages, adopted a baby girl and then got pregnant with her son a few years later (yeah, the classic just adopt and got pregnant scenario!).  We hang out for lunch or coffee sometimes and she has a heart for people dealing with infertility because of her own journey.
  • There is a group of friends that have been praying for Babe and I during out TTC struggles.  I found out that one of the couples that have been praying for us, their daughter had struggled with infertility for a couple of years, is now pregnant via IVF and is due in June.  Another couple that is praying for us also had experienced baby loss.  I am grateful for my strong prayer partners that have supported us all this while, and it makes is even more special when you know they can relate to some of your pain.
  • 4 out of 5 women (including myself) in my small group at church has suffered through miscarriages and/or infertility.  The one that hasn't is single.  I wasn't planning on telling my group about my fertility issues, but once they found out about my failed IVF, they all came forward with their stories.  I think God is teaching me not to be ashamed of my struggle, but to share it and be a blessing to others.
  • K and I have met casually before a few years back via a mutual friend (her friend is married to one of Babe's best friends).  She had heard in the past that I was dealing with infertility, and happened to see my name on the email list of a Christian infertility support group called Patiently Waiting.  I had not attended this group in 3 years due to conflicts.  She emailed me one day and asked me if I were going to the meeting that night.  I had not planned on attending since it had been 3 years, but since my schedule was open, I decided that I'd go with her.  It was such a blessing to have gone.  I have met a few other wonderful gals, and we have met even outside of the support group
  • Last Sunday, I ran into K (from the above) at church.  K grew up in my church but had not been attending there in a few years.  I had just got done attending the first service, and she had just gotten done with her bible study small group that was meeting for the first time.  It was totally weird to run into K at church!  Coincidently, there was a lady there, Mar, in her small group that had been dealing with infertility for 8 years before conceiving her 2 sons.  We (Babe and I) plan on joining K and her small group the next time they meet. 
  • Mar, K and I have met up for breakfast.  We had a wonderful time sharing our experiences, and struggles.  Mar is such a strong and godly woman, and her encouragement has been such a blessing.  It has been such a blessing meeting her!
  • While K and I were chatting when we met at church, one of our pastors, Pastor Greg came walking by.  I had emailed Pr. Greg earlier in the week with a question about infertility treatments (he is also a doctor), but he did not have a chance to reply yet.  Coincidently, K had known him from her youth group days (remember K grew up at my church).  So, he stopped by to say hi.  We mentioned that both K and I have been dealing with infertility, and I mentioned my question that I emailed him.  Not only did he give us time out of his busy schedule to chat, he answered my question AND he prayed for the both of us right there and then! Again, what a blessing!  I could not believe how the day had played out.
So, do you believe in divine appointments?  What's your story?

13 comments:

  1. I love when things like that happens. My mom always says this prayer when she runs into an Angel:

    Angel of God,
    my guardian dear,
    to whom God's love commits me here,
    ever this day,
    be at my side
    to light and guard,
    to rule and guide.

    Sounds like you have been very blessed lately.

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  2. It sounds like you are surrounded by wonderful people who care a great deal about you. It's really a blessing to be able to speak to someone and for that person to understand where you are coming from.

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  3. amazing stories. I am so glad that you are getting the support and prayers that you need. One my biggest supports during my IF journey is someone I started randomly emailing with from a resolve web board. I discovered that she lives in the same city as I do, we met for coffee, and now she is my IF life-line and a very close friend :) Not so sure if this is divine intervention, but I am grateful to have her.

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  4. Like they say, there are no coincidences but God-enabled appointments!

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  5. Definitely! Sometimes life is so full of coincidences I have to wonder if it's not something more -- maybe you're right and they are divine appointments!!

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  6. i wholeheartedly believe in divine appts. and i'm praying that He gives you more of them!!!! and that His best blessings for you come as a result.

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  7. So sorry about your last IVF cycle. I can certainly relate.

    I do sort of believe in divine intervention. And I also believe that god works "down stream" and out of sight sometimes. Although thinking that makes me impatient. LOL!

    Best wishes on your next cycle.

    ICLW

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  8. You are very lucky to have all these wonderful people in your life. I don't have anyone here in our new duty station except my co-workers, who are great, but they really don't count as "friends." I wrote a blog not too long ago about how a chance meeting in Italy led me to believe I should give IVF another try and here I am 7weeks4days along in this miraculous pregnancy. If you're interested, here's the link: http://writingtorowan.blogspot.com/2010_02_01_archive.html

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  9. Thank you so much for sharing these beautiful stories of God working in your life! I don't believe in chance or fate...only that God places us where we are supposed to be and as long as we stay in the center of His will we will be blessed!! Hope you have a great day!

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  10. Definately divine appointments, I don't believe in coincidences either!! Great stories, I believe God wants us all to share, so that people don't feel alone in this situation anymore!

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  11. O yes, I've had some devine appointments! The one that's TTC related is that we joined a cell group at church a while back and we were 3 couples in the group. When we eventually opened up about our infertility, we found out that both the other couples have had infertiliy problems too! The one couple had recurrent miscarriages, and the other couple conceived their son on an IUI cycle (not their first IUI). The couple with the recurrent miscarriages have had a lot of infertility problems in their family as well with 2 SIL's having to go through IVF. I'm happy to say that all of them have been such a big support to us, and that all concerned are either pregnant or parents already! God is good! Happy ICLW!

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