A friend and I were talking on the phone and she was telling me how concerned she was about selling her home and buying a new one. She asked how to know when God was talking to you, trying to tell you something. I didn’t have an answer for her as I was new to listening for God myself. I wasn’t new to the Christian faith, I was just new at practicing. I told my friend that I really wasn’t sure, but that if I came up with anything I’d let her know.
Later that day, I was craving some chocolate but didn’t have any. I also, for some reason, had decided I needed a logic puzzle book. It had been several years since I’d worked a logic puzzle – I used to do them in my idle time at work (we were allowed) but when my place of employment shut down, I had no use for them. I was working from home now as an independent contractor and I didn’t punch in and out, so I really didn’t have “idle” time where I couldn’t leave my desk but had no work to do. If I was at my desk, I was working.
So, I decided to walk up to the neighborhood Dollar General to get my chocolate and see if they had any logic puzzle books. I walked in, and immediately noticed an endcap with puzzle books that were clearance. Cha-ching! I love a good clearance! I headed straight for the rack of puzzle books and began perusing.
I scanned over the crosswords and other puzzle type books until I saw one that was obviously a logic puzzle book. I reached for the book, grabbed hold of it, and pulled it out from the other books it was nestled between. But…a very strange thing happened and I’m not sure when. Or how. What I was now holding in my hand was not a logic puzzle book. In fact, it was not a puzzle book at all. It was a hard-cover book titled, “Right People, Right Place, Right Plan…Discerning the Voice of God.
Do I need to say it a little louder for those in the back? Discerning the Voice of God. In case you missed it, this came just hours after my friend asked me how to know when God was talking to you! Needless to say, I bought the book. I forgot my chocolate, but I bought the book. I read it within 24 hours before giving it to my friend.
A couple of days later, I decided it would be a good book to have on hand. So, I went back up to Dollar General, but I couldn’t find any more in the rack where I first found the original. I decided to look with the rest of the books in a different aisle, and lo and behold, there it was.
I would’ve never thought to look for a book to help my friend. And if I had, I certainly wouldn’t have thought that type of book would be found at the Dollar General. And I most definitely wouldn’t have looked in the clearance section of puzzle books for it. I think this is the kind of thing people might be referring to when they say that God works in mysterious ways.
I’ve bought that book a number of times from Amazon and wherever I could find it and given it to various people who I thought could use it. I finally decided to scan the book so I would have a copy no matter what.
The Armentrout Shout-Out 