Divine Appointments: God's Surprise Visits

Lake Placid Sunrise

Seguin, Texas

photo source: Google Images

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field.

When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy 

went and sold all he had and bought the field.

- Matthew 13:44 

If you want to build a ship, 

don't just gather men to collect wood,

divide the work and give orders.

Rather, teach them to long

for the immensity of the sea.

- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

It was in 1996 that I first met Lynne Balcells. 

I was at a church where a famous speaker was ministering that evening. At the end of his message, he invited anyone who needed a fresh touch from God to come forward. I do not remember how I ended up being in front, but what I cannot forget is the intensity of the Lord's presence in that place. 

After a few minutes, one of the ministry team, a young woman stood before me and began to pray for me. Her voice was kind and compassionate. We had never met, but her prayer caught me by surprise. She was praying for a person dear to my heart, my very own first born son. Some of the words she spoke were very similar to the prayers I had written down in my own prayer journal. Of course I was amazed that a person whom I had never met would be able to pray for me in such a specific and personal way.

"God hears the cry of your heart for your son," I remember Lynne saying. "I see a beautiful picture of a young man dancing before the Lord with joy and gladness."

The year 1996 was right in the middle of my decade of pruning and those words that God spoke through a woman who, in the natural, knew nothing about my life, were a bright spot in the painful season I was in at that time. 

Lynne and I were never formally introduced. In fact I did not even know her name then, or from what country she came. 

But I am so thankful for that night in that small church where I experienced a surprise visit from God, my Father. I have written briefly about it in a post entitled All I Want is You, a special day in August 2008 when God gave me another surprise visit during the year Ernie and I lived in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

About God's "surprise visits," Oswald Chambers writes these words:

Jesus rarely comes where we expect Him; He appears where we least expect Him, and always in the most illogical situations. The only way a servant can remain true to God is to be ready for the Lord's surprise visits. This readiness will not be brought about by service, but through intense spiritual reality, expecting Jesus Christ at every turn. This sense of expectation will give our life the attitude of childlike wonder He wants it to have.

What Oswald Chambers writes is so true. We can never predict how Jesus will show up in the difficult circumstances of our lives. What matters is that we have the enduring faith to believe that our life is in His hands. And that somehow, in the midst of the darkness, His light will shine.

Today, another month of this year comes to an end.  

My blog posts these days are few and far between, but rather than be bothered by it, I am choosing to simply allow myself to flow with the direction my life seems to be going these days. 

After being in Manila for nearly two months, I finally returned to my home city on July 7. There were many things that needed my attention, but I purposely took my time and refused to be tyrannized by a false sense of urgency.

One thing I am very grateful to God for is the assurance that He is the One ordering my steps.

The day after I arrived, I attended the Monday evenings Bible study with Lyndon Cana at my sister in law's house. Lyndon has a gift of prophetic teaching and we always look forward to what God reveals to us through this him.

That same week, our family celebrated my daughter-in-law God-given's birthday by having lunch together at a Korean restaurant.

On July 11, four days after I got back, I was able to join my dear friends again for our weekly lunch and devotional get-together. I found out only that day that Lynne Balcells was going to be our devotional speaker. 

Lynne spoke on prayer  - not out of a sense of duty, but out of delight and glad expectation.

Indeed, what a great privilege it is to be partnering with God in what He desires to bring about in the circumstances, events, and lives we are praying for. We are seated with Christ at the right hand of God!

If then you have been raised with Christ, 

seek the things that are above,

where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

- Colossians 3:1

I can pray then from the perspective of heaven, rather than the perspective of earth!

As I pray, I am very much aware of the unresolved issues and areas in my life that I am waiting on God for answers and resolutions. Though they are beyond my control at the moment, when I pray from the perspective of heaven, God gives me the assurance that He has the right answers for all of them, and His timing is perfect.

Prayer becomes almost effortless as all I am doing is speaking the prayers God wants me to pray, and releasing the words He wants me to speak.  Praying this way is so liberating; I can pray with thanksgiving... thanking God in advance for His answers to my prayers. And I can pray with confidence, for I know God has my best interests at heart.

I will stand my watch

And set myself on the rampart,

And watch to see what He will say to me,

And what I will answer when I am corrected.

Then the Lord answered me and said:

Write the vision

And make it plain on tablets,

That he may run who reads it.

For the vision is yet for an appointed time;

But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie.

Though it tarries, wait for it;

Because it will surely come,

It will not tarry.

- Habakkuk 2:1-3

After lunch, I introduced myself to Lynne and told her the story of how she had ministered to me way back in 1996. 

Lynne prayed for me again, and as I had expected, her prayer was very much a confirmation of the breakthroughs God was bringing into my life in the very near future. 

God had given her a prophetic knowledge about certain areas of my life, and I sensed that by her specific prayers and faith declarations, something was broken in the spirit realm. I am thanking God in advance for the answers to my prayers.

Lynne's prayer was another surprise visit from God for me! 

Wil Pounds couldn't have said it better. He writes:

God is always at work in His surprise visits. He comes at His perfect timing. Keep your heart tender toward Him so that if He catches you unawares you will know you are in His presence. Always be in a state of expectancy. "Even so, come, Lord Jesus."

I want to end this post by sharing this beautiful excerpt from Living in Light of Forever, by Mark Buchanan. His timely word is like healing oil being poured over the bruised areas of my heart, encouraging me to live my life with a sense of fearlessness.

The enemy wants to fill our lives with fear... of the future... of the unknown... But Jesus enters the scene, and gently but powerfully, pushes back the dark clouds and sheds His light, exposing the hiding places of the deceiver.

When Jesus graces my moments with His surprise visits, He speaks life... He speaks truth... He speaks love. He reminds me of where I am seated... 

Only those who fill their hearts and minds with heaven can want or even recognize its earthly counterpart. Only they can seek after it in a way that indulges neither Utopian dreams nor despotic solutions. 

To be of real earthly good requires a certain fearlessness: a freedom from the fear of death, from the loss of property or status or title or comfort, from the threat of tyrants, the power of armies, the day of trouble.

People fixated on earth generally do not have this deep taproot of courage and conviction... Like the tug and heft of an unseen planet hovering near, the hope of heaven is meant to exert a gravitational pull that gives our lives stability, substance, weight.

 Ironically, it alone has the power to give us in a sustained way the moral and spiritual ballast needed to keep our feet on the earth--to make us of much earthly good. It is a rumor of home in a place of exile, inspiring us to keep up the good work. 

It is Unseen Things that render the things we do see--both the beauty and the ugliness, the grandeur and the barrenness, never enough, and yet never too much.

with Lynne Balcells

during our Women of Purpose weekly lunch 

July 11, 2013

Sharing twelve life lessons on my 60th year:

January 2013 - Restoration: A Matter of Perspective

February 2013 - Authenticity: A Matter of Trust

March 2013 - Celebration: A Way of Life

April 2013 - Relinquishment: A Journey of Faith

May 2013 - Abiding: The Anatomy of a Birthday

June 2013 - Exchange: My Weakness for His Strength

July 2013 - Divine Appointments: God's Surprise Visits

August 2013 - Worship: Hidden Riches in Secret Places

September 2013 - Longing for Things Unseen: Escape from Reality

October 2013 - God's Favor: A Season of Replacement

November 2013 - Honor: Creating Space