Do you ever wake up in the middle of the night with the strong feeling that you need to pray for someone?
It happens to me pretty regularly, and usually I wake up because I was thinking about this person as I drifted off to sleep, or maybe earlier in the day I heard about a problem they were dealing with. A quick prayer at that moment is all it takes and I’m back to a blissful sleep in a minute or two.
There are other times when I wake up and I feel like I need to pray for someone, but I don’t know who it is.
That’s what happened to me last night. At around 3:00 am, I woke up, and as I thought about praying, no one came to mind. I thought about it for a minute or two, and then simply asked the Lord to bless whoever it was that I was supposed to pray for. Feeling better, I tried to go back to sleep, but it just didn’t happen. After about ten minutes, my phone beeped. I had a text message. Ah, here’s my divine appointment…
The message was from a young man who used to go to my church, but now lives in another state. He works an overnight shift on Wednesdays, and just wanted to touch base. At 3:00 am! Of course, I knew there was something more there, so I texted him back, explaining that I had been sound asleep, but had woken up and had only minutes before prayed for whoever needed my prayer at that particular moment. I told him to give me a call if he wanted to talk, and a minute or two later, the phone rang.
We talked for about thirty minutes, and it was a good conversation. I was asleep within a minute or two after hanging up, so I knew that I had accomplished my mission for the night.
Over the years, I’ve come to realize each of us are given these little divine appointments from time to time. We can either be open to them, or discount them into nothingness. I’d challenge you to move in faith when they come to you, and trust that God wants you to do something.
When I got that text this morning, I realized that I hadn’t talked to this young man for several weeks. I hadn’t been thinking about him or praying for him recently. So, the moment I saw the message from him, I knew that God was behind it.
I trust that it was a blessed conversation for both of us, and I know that it was a reminder to me that God is always moving among us, calling us to go beyond the present moment and deeper into relationship with Him and those we love.
Be open to receiving your next divine appointment. It might be coming to you today 🙂
