Cherish the “God Moments”
Have you ever had a moment when you thought to yourself, That was a total God thing?” Or perhaps something that seemed like a coincidence but was too perfectly timed to be just a coincidence? You knew deep down God was working–it was a God Moment! My family recently had one of these.
We took a six-week trip across the United States, visiting nineteen national parks and a few other sights. It was an amazing trip—one we will never forget. More than the amazing sights we saw, though, I think we will all remember a family we met on our trip.
We were standing in line to enter White Sands Visitor Center in New Mexico. With pandemic restrictions, the center was only allowing in one family at a time. As we got in line, another family, who had pulled in right next to our camper, their own Ford Flex towing a U-Haul, got in line behind us. The woman greeted us and said she’d seen we were from Michigan. They were from Michigan, too, and were doing a similar trip. We talked briefly about how we were spending our respective trips. They were doing about three weeks and mostly tent camping with periodic stays in hotels. We realized we only lived a little over an hour from each other and were both homeschooling families. It was a fun interaction, and as our family entered the visitor center, we wished each other safe travels and fun times on the journey ahead as our next couple stops were different.
Fast forward two weeks and a couple of states.
My family had spent the day at Canyonlands National Park in Utah, where we had fun climbing rock formations and finding cairns to point out our path. As we started the hour or so drive back to our campground, we were on a long stretch of road that went on for a while. We were driving behind the same vehicle for a while, and I had a feeling I couldn’t shake, so I finally said, “Why do I feel like the vehicle in front of us is the family we met in White Sands? It’s a black Flex, with Michigan license plates and a hitch on the back.” My husband quickly disputed me, saying the family had been driving a white Flex. The kids joined in on the conversation and agreed with me that it had been a black Flex. It looked like there were a lot of kids in the vehicle we were following.
We kept driving, wondering if it was the same family but with no way of knowing for sure. My husband said, “If that is the same family, God has a purpose for us meeting them.”
As we were getting ready to approach a T-shaped intersection where we would need to slow and stop, the Flex stayed to the left to make a left-hand turn, and we pulled up next to them to make a right-hand turn. My husband quickly said, “It’s not them.” I was disappointed and started to check the oncoming traffic coming, when my daughter blurted out from the second row, “It is them!” We rolled down our windows and laughed at the craziness of us running into each other again. We talked for only a couple of seconds before other cars began pulling up behind us. I hurried to scribble my name and number on a piece of paper, and my daughter jumped out and handed it to them.
We texted often over the next week or so as we traveled in the same direction but without meeting again. When our family returned to Michigan a few weeks after theirs, we planned a time to meet up.
On a Friday night, halfway between our homes, our families met for ice cream. We spent a wonderful evening sharing stories from our trips and learning more about each other.
As we talked, the family shared how, on the day we saw them at the intersection, they had seen a vehicle like ours in the parking lot at the park and wondered if it was ours. The husband had said something similar to his wife about how, if it was us, then God surely wanted us to meet for some reason.
Isaiah 55: 8-9 says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (NIV).
God works in mysterious ways. We may never really know the purpose of our families meeting, but I know there was a purpose nonetheless. God’s ways are higher than mine, and they are so much better than mine. I’m thankful for this new family he placed in our lives, and I look forward to seeing his plan unfold.
is living the full life with her husband, Jeff, four kids, and a dog in Metro Detroit. Heather enjoys reading, writing, coffee-ing, and serving in youth ministry. She was born a Jersey girl and feels most at home on a beach. She is the host of the monthly link-up, Share Four Somethings. You can join Heather on the journey to living the full life at www.heathergerwing.com.
Photograph © Kai Gradert, used with permission
