Not a Coincidence.  Not a Lucky Break.  Not a Hopeful Chance.
Life flies at us, often faster than what we can consume or absorb.
Life comes, and we face a multitude of choices in how we react to the life we have been given.  Yes, we have choices…..always…..how we act within life situations & how we react to life situations.
Consider for a moment these life situations.
WE are driving along an eight-lane highway, headed to the airport to receive a beloved family member…..barely escaping a multi-car crash.
WE are going along through life and the calendar dates align so perfectly that a semester of teaching ends on the 30th of the month, allowing us to enjoy a getaway with our child who we have not seen for five months….perfectly timed the very next calendar date.
WE receive a negative Covid-19 test and a GOOD TO GO travel report, only to arrive at the airport and be told the testing was insufficient and we must re-test, receive a second negative result……barely taking our seat on the airplane & barely sitting mere minutes before the plane is due to taxi down the runway.
WE know God is leading us away from a secure career position, we pray, our husband prays, and our future employer prays, while the world of onlookers scratches their heads wondering if we have lost our mind…..but clearly sure that God is leading us when our bank statement reveals a better deposit than the one we relied upon for so many years.
Coincidences?
Lucky Breaks?
Hopeful Chances?
OR…..Something Else Entirely?
OR…..SOMEONE ELSE……FOR SURE!!!

Truly….Life flies at us & by us quickly (faster than what we can absorb in our minds).
Just yesterday, while selecting my garden plants, I asked the proprietor about her son, and she reported how her son was doing in life (a son who is now 40+ and my “former” student).   40+ years old!!!!
Where does time go & Where did our life go?    &
What will God give us to see as we live out the next 49 years (surviving to the age of 103, as I plan to do)?

Yes, most definitely….Life comes toward us…..and we face choices…..reactions & actions, not clearly sure how we will come through to reach the other side…..YET, knowing without a doubt when we glance into our “life” rearview mirror that God’s hand was most assuredly guiding our every situation.

Paul was not always an apostle to the LORD Jesus Christ.  He first had to encounter God & then Paul had to choose to accept God’s forgiveness of sins, mentally deciding to no longer refuse God, but instead to accept God’s gift of salvation….to receive God’s salvation & the guidance found only within following God’s Holy Spirit. 
Now, here is a most precious point to remember, after Paul knew Jesus as his Savior, Paul did not always act OR react as a man who was “God-led” in every life situation.
Often, when I peer into the rearview mirror of my life, I see myself clearly, in my previous actions and in my daily reactions to my life situations.
Maybe you can too.
YET GOD…..saved Paul’s life & God used Paul in a mighty way!!!
YET GOD…..accepted Paul’s confession,  & forgave Paul’s sins,  & allowed Paul to live for Him in a beautiful way.
And God will use us too.
God will accept our confession,  & God will forgive our sins,  & God will allow us the opportunity to live for Him today….in a most beautiful way.
HOW?
“See to it you do not refuse Him [God] who is speaking.   For if those did not escape when they refused him [witnesses] who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him [God] who warns from heaven.
And His [God’s] voice shook the earth then, but now He [God] has promised, saying, “YET ONCE MORE I WILL SHAKE NOT ONLY THE EARTH, BUT ALSO THE HEAVEN.”
This expression, “Yet once more,” denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe;
For our God is a consuming fire”  (Hebrews 12: 25–29).
Listen today (if time allows) to a beautiful melody by artists Brad & Rebekah titled “You Hold It All.”

When writing this blog earlier this morning, I heard this melody, and knew without a doubt that the words spoke over the content of my writing. So later when preparing to post the blog online, when I thought it might be nice to listen to this melody (AGAIN) as I posted, I should not have been amazed when I clicked on YouTube to look up the melody and did not even need to type the title in the search line. WHY? WHY DID I NOT NEED TO TYPE THE TITLE INTO THE SEARCH LINE?!!!

GOD HAD ALREADY PLACED THE TITLE…RIGHT THERE ON THE SCREEN, RIGHT THERE…..ALREADY PREPARED IN ADVANCE FOR ME…..ALL I HAD TO DO…..CLICK ON THE WORD “PLAY.”
Coincidences?
Lucky Breaks?
Hopeful Chances?
OR…..Something Else Entirely?
OR…..SOMEONE ELSE……FOR SURE!!!

See God’s Hand Upon Our Lives….Not Coincidences.
See God’s Hand Upon Our Lives….Not Lucky Breaks.
See God’s Hand Upon Our Lives….Not Hopeful Chances.
See God’s Hand….And Praise Him For His Mighty Hand….Guiding Us.
See God’s “Yet once more” as He removes the “created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain” (27).
TODAY…… MAY WE…..”show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe;” (28).

Let us See GOD “removing of those things which can be shaken,…” (27).

Let us see God’s Hand Upon Our Lives  &
Let us Praise HIS Goodness.