"...a remarkable concurrence of events or circumstances without apparent causal connection."
A while ago, I wrote a blog about how many connections I'd found in London and how strange that was. Today I went to morning Church for the first time, and bumped into a friend from uni who'd just started coming and didn't really know anyone. Coincidence?
On Friday night I went to Youth church and loved it. We chatted a bit about how we wanted to improve our relationship with God. I said I wanted to trust God's timing. Afterwards, I left and prayed I'd get a bus quickly. One arrived at the bus stop straight away. I then checked online and realised the next bus wasn't for over half an hour. Coincidence?
On Thursday I finally gave the talk in work that I'd been dreading all week. In the past, my public speaking has resulted in me making no sense, being nervous and forgetting what to say. I got some friends to pray for me and the result was a completely smooth experience and compliments from colleagues. Coincidence?
There's a really famous quote by Sir William Temple that I love:
"When I pray coincidences happen. When I don't, they don't."
I recognise that everyone has a different opinion on prayer, and understand that some of these occurrences could have been chance or luck on my part. To be honest, I'm an impatient pray-er and I know that it's not always as straightforward as praying and watching our desired response unfold.
I don't think God works like that. But I do think that he assists and guides. And this week has reminded me how powerful prayer is. Not that these prayers in themselves were super powerful. But it's reminded me not to give up. I've been praying for some things for years. And even then, I've forgotten for periods of time and then remembered once more that maybe I should pray again.
At Youth Church on Friday we chatted about praying. And what it means in the Bible when it says nothing is impossible with God. Do we believe it? Not always. But that's okay. It doesn't mean we should stop praying though.
I've been encouraged this week through coincidences. I'm retaining belief in a God who has to be supernatural and works in our lives naturally, but also supernaturally.
For more thoughts on prayer, I love this blog:
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