When I’m at the gym, on the treadmill or elliptical, I often spend time talking to God. This morning, while on the treadmill, I specifically asked God to speak to me and let me know about things to come, just as Jeremiah had written thousands of years ago. It seemed like a brazen request at the time... I didn’t realize how quickly and immediately He would answer!
The couple that own our gym are Christians, and the husband told me this morning about his upcoming knee surgery. He’s been in leg braces and in a wheelchair for months, since his last surgery – both knees were operated on previously, and while one is nearly healed, the other is not and requires more work.
While on the treadmill I prayed for him and his surgery, but I felt prompted to actually pray with him – pray over him for his upcoming surgery. As I was nearing the 60-minute mark, I felt further pressed to go ahead and stop early so I could pray with him – I had a feeling I needed to do it soon or I would miss the opportunity somehow.
Let me just say: This isn’t a normal thing for me - to feel something like this so strongly – but I couldn’t shake the feeling. I stopped at 57 minutes, instead of finishing the full 60, so I could hurry up, cooldown and go pray with him. As I finishing the cooldown – reaching to hit the ‘Stop’ button and step down, I saw someone walk in the door and start talking to the owner - someone that both shocked me, and confirmed my feelings.
So here's the setup - I feel God asking me to pray for the owner, and just as I’m finishing my workout a brother in Christ - a pastor at a local church, actually - walks in and stands there talking with him… Like, can God make this any more obvious for me?
I walk over and ask the owner if he would mind my praying for him, and if the pastor would mind joining in – they both enthusiastically agree, and I quickly go into the shower room and change out of my sweaty clothes (I know God wouldn't mind the sweat, but I really didn't want to touch the poor guy like this!). When I come out, they are both ready and waiting, and we step outside into the sunlight (well, the pastor and I step outside – the owner rolls out in his wheelchair). We place our hands on the owner and pray over him, together, in the beautiful fall morning air.
When we finish our prayer, the owner thanks us both profusely, and is near tears. I don't feel right accepting his thanks, because it was clear that God was controlling this whole thing. I was just following orders!
You see what happened here, right? I simply did what God placed on my heart – He confirmed it as soon as I had determined to do it (not before) through the ‘coincidence’ of the pastor showing up. He then turned this whole thing into a blessing for the owner, the pastor, and of course for me. We serve an amazing God!
You may be asking: “So you just prayed for a guy – what makes that a ‘remarkable secret of things to come’?”
My answer would be that anytime I am given personal insight into the God of the Universe's plan (even on this relatively small scale) and watch Him bring it to fruition - it sure seems remarkable!
#LoveMatters