When you pray, do you pray expectantly? When He answers are you shocked? 

Yes and Yes are my answers to these questions.  

I’m not necessarily shocked because I know God is faithful, but I am in awe of rapid responses and how He answers!  He is AMAZING! 

We were in Kentucky and I had a deep desire for another divine appointment and fellowship. I was walking to the bathhouse for a shower  and began asking God for these exact things.  As I was praying, God moved my heart and I began acknowledging that He knows exactly what I need and I surrendered to whatever He had for me.  I ended my shower praying the Lord’s prayer and leaving it in His hands. The very next day… let me say that again…the VERY NEXT DAY… I met and “Iron Friend”. 

Before I introduce you to my new friend, let me preface you with how this particular day was going.

We were camping in a “resort” state park.  I had never heard of these before, but apparently Kentucky has several. In a “resort” state park you get to enjoy inexpensive rates with the amenities of a resort.  In this case a POOL!  So, any family with children would expect to hear, “Can we go to the pool?”…”When can we go to the pool?”… “Is it pool time yet?” And this we did… 

It was a normal day, Tim was working on installing a new stereo in the truck, but said he would  run us up to the pool whenever I was ready.  The pool wasn’t far, but up a steep hill and definitely not within comfortable walking distance with 3 kiddos.  After a while I had the girls suited up, towels packed, and my Bible in hand.

“Come on girls, let’s get in the truck.” They squealed with excitement as they climbed in, buckled up, and waited for Dad to start the truck.  Dad turned the key and the truck started, but something was definitely wrong.  It was idling funny.  We gave it some time to see if the engine would settle down. The girls held their breath as they waited.  After a few minutes, Tim determined the truck wasn’t moving and he had to dig into the issue.  With deflated faces the girls said, “So we aren’t going to the pool?” I tried to calmly explain to them, “Girls, I know you are sad and I am too.  You know how sad you feel that you can’t go to the pool? Well, think about how sad Dad feels that he can’t take us and now has to dig into the issue with the truck when he’s in the middle of a completely different project.”  They shook their heads, unbuckled, and hopped out of the truck.  

Over the next few hours the girls rode bikes and occupied their time with other toys, I prayed for wisdom and continued digging into Joshua, and Tim was elbows deep in troubleshooting.  

It was about 5:30pm and I thought the girls would appreciate a change in scenery.

“Come on girls, get your water bottles, put on your shoes, and hop on your bikes”, I hollered.  “Are we going to the playground?”, they exclaimed. “For a little bit”, I said. “Yay!”, they were elated.  

I let Tim know our plans, left my phone behind to charge, grabbed my Bible and off we went. The playground was just across from the next camping loop down, so not far at all.  As soon as we arrived at the playground the girls ran for the swings and I picked a sunny bench to sit and read. After a few minutes the sun was hot so I moved into a shady area in the grass. We were at the park for about 20 minutes and I noticed a mom walking across the playground carrying a royal blue book with an illustration of an open book on the back cover. I think to myself, “Is that a Bible?”  She sits down on the bench I had recently vacated.  Trying to be discrete I keep looking over at her to determine if it is the Bible.  I can’t tell.

Interrupting my detective process, Jessi runs over to me yelling, “Mama, I have to go potty!” Well, the closest potty is down the campground loop which requires me to ride Jessi on my bike; which, by the way, “just happens” to be laying right behind the bench where this mom is sitting.  As I get closer to my bike I can see that the text in her book is in the format of scripture… it is a Bible! As we approach, I say, “Are you reading the Bible?” She proceeded to tell me that she was reading Jeremiah in her son’s Bible, it was the only thing in the car she found to keep her occupied while waiting on her husband’s laundry and she was preparing to speak at a women’s conference in October on the attributes of God. 

At this point, I knew she was a direct answer to my prayer the previous night.  

Meanwhile, Jessi is tugging on my leg, “Mommy, I have to go potty!” I throw her on my bike and head to the bathhouse saying, “God you are so good, let her be there when I return so we can talk. Thank you Lord for divine appointments”.

When we returned to the playground, Jessi ran off and I sat down on the bench and said to this mom, “So, tell me your story.” 

We connected so deeply talking about faith, our personal walks, what God was currently stirring in us, marriage, parenting, homeschooling, ministry, church, baptism, and much more. Having so much in common, we talked for hours…literally…I believe it was 3 hours…we lost track of time since neither of us had our phones on us. We were able to pray together and planned to connect again later in the week. It was getting dark, her laundry was surely done, and Tim had no idea what I was doing. I wrote her number in my Bible with a crayon and told her I’d text her mine when I got back to the camper. 

I returned to the camper and blabbed to Tim how amazing this meeting was and that it was a direct answer to prayer. After I was done with all the details, he was able to tell me that the truck was back functioning again.  I shared all of the details about the truck to show how amazing God is in redirecting our paths. He set it up for us to not go to the pool and to be at the playground at the exact time as my new friend! I have no words… I’m still in awe of this special meeting!

So let me introduce you to my new “Iron Friend”.  Meet Jami…her family is from Missouri.  Her husband is a welder who took a 3 month job in Kentucky to help out a buddy.  Jami is very involved in her church and directs the children’s ministry. She is passionate about the word and being a “doer” of it. She brought their 3 kids out to visit her husband for the week and was staying at the lodge up by the pool in this resort campground.  She came down to this playground because she was doing laundry and just buying time between cycles. 

Jami and I were able to connect at the pool later in the week and our families enjoyed dinner together at a local pizza place (pictured above). We enjoyed rich fellowship, prayed together, and have continued to stay in contact sharpening one another since we parted ways! 

I’m so thankful for this divine appointment and another “Iron Friend!

What a sweet blessing from the Lord!  

P.S. Tim connected with Jami’s husband at dinner.  They also enjoyed conversation and had much in common.