Coinsidences?

We are heavy into the rainy season now. Consider what hurricane rain is like and that is about what happens here most everyday in the later months of rainy season. One time it began to rain and didn't stop for two weeks. Today I awoke while it was so dark I assumed it had to still be night. It had rained clear into the morning. Just last week a tree fell close to our home from the weight of the rain. It is definitely something to behold to be able to look out and watch as road turns to river. The rain is especially fierce up on the mountain where I live.  Along with the heavy rain, thunder and lightning you can expect to frequently be without electricity. As such, I must confess that this is the second time I am writing this post, seeing as the first time as I was concluding it the power went out. Coincidence, carelessness, or divine intervention? Interesting enough I was writing precisely about the difference between coincidence and God's hand intervening in decisions that  we may feel we made on our own.  As a Christian how often are things just "coincidence"?  (I pause a moment to once again save what I have already written).  You see, this last trip I took to the hospital was planned and prepared with various things in mind. I decided the time and the day based on many factors. A; I wanted to go in the afternoon as opposed to the morning as I recalled that it is a calmer time and most of the women that get dismissed are done so at noon, assuring me that the women there would still have their overnight and baby bathing time still before them. As these kits are designed specifically for their time in the hospital I would like to be able to hand them out for the ladies both in labor, waiting to go into labor and the ones that gave birth recently. In the past I have never had enough to pass out to the ladies waiting which have averaged about 15-25. More on that later. B; I narrowed the days down to Wednesday or Thursday for specific reasons. Then I talked with the two ladies that would be accompanying me and finally settled on Thursday afternoon.  It was arranged for 1:30 after lunch..before visiting hours.....before the rain really starts in town.... We waited for 40 minutes before the lady who would take us up arrived. She was in a hurry since she feared the rain so we were a little rushed from room to room. I found myself a little disappointed and frustrated as it seemed that every time myself or Xenia and Hazel (my friends who accompanied me) tried to have a conversation we were cut short by our "guide" as she would hurry us out all the while glancing at our watch. I had to let go of that by remembering that, as I have said many times before, I feel the most important thing is just being able to get the packet in their hands and pray and trust that through the gesture and literature God will work according to His will. I prayed and searched a long time on the right kind of literature to put in the packet for this very reason and truly believe it is precisely what needs to be said. Hazel was instrumental in helping to translate and prepare the literature. I will share a few highlights of the trip. The first one being as we were dropping off the kits to the neonatal department, they come to the door and give us a count on how many are there and we hand them to the nurses as we cannot enter this area. As we were waiting, one of the cleaning ladies popped her head out from a closet and called Xenia over.  Right then the nurses came back and we got busy sorting out and passing them the kits so I was not able to ask till later what that was about. There were a total of 14 babies in neonatal  care this time. More than any other time I have gone. The mothers are usually with them. Back to the cleaning lady, she was asking if we would give her a kit for her daughter that was pregnant but not there yet. Of course she was obliged and the same happened later  in the next hall over when the cleaning ladies brought over one of the employees who was clearly pregnant, for us to give her one. They then joked around with us by puffing out their own stomachs saying they would like one too. We all had a good laugh. I have also had nurses tease saying "Oh I want one" as well.  There was one baby girl who was not in the neonatal but was absolutely tiny. She was asleep on the bed and had been born just a few hours prior. The mom was alone and told us she had nothing there for the baby including anything to carry her home in. I saw that she had received a kit with a blanket so I began to search for one that had a onesie to hand her as well. I had one kit that didn't have a water bottle in it and had put it on the bottom to not hand out since all the rest had water bottles. It just so happened this one was for a girl and had both a onesie and socks so I handed that to her. I had made two kits with a smaller hat and preemie diapers and it so happened that she had received one of those initially. This was neat for me because even though I would have switched her current one out with one of the smaller diapered ones I couldn't help but wonder and conclude that God had it so that it just happened to be the next kit out of the bag. This, not to keep us from having to search through our bags to find  the smaller one, but instead to show us He was right there with us.  It was also a great opportunity to point out how God cares for us in that this mom was supplied with her babies hospital needs at the precise time. I would calculate that it would have not been long till her baby needed that first diaper change. Coincidence? Overall we had a great trip and even though the months of September and October are the highest birth months we were able to give out kits to the mothers waiting to go into labor. I had been determined to have enough with me for that and to leave a few kits with the nurses to have on hand to give to the mothers, like the one mentioned above, who have nothing when they give birth. As it worked out I had six unisex and one girl kit left.  I left the six with the nurses as Xenia had asked me for a girl one for someone she knew. That worked out beautifully. Coincidence?  We left just as it began to rain to the dismay of our guide as her intent of rushing us was to get home before the rain began. But it worked out as we gave her a ride home and Xenia had an umbrella so no harm done.  I tend to write long posts far and in-between; for this I apologize but I leave you with this final story and the main reason for the subject matter of this post . "Coincidences?"  As we entered into one of the rooms I was greeted with a huge smile by one of the moms,  almost as if she knew me. The funny thing was she was strangely familiar to me as well. Then it hit me and almost simultaneously we said "I know you"! I had met her this past summer in one of the places we worked with our mission teams. She lives in the more impoverished area of this region and was pregnant with twins. At the time she had a few months to go and didn't know what she was having. I told her some of what to expect during her time in the hospital and gave her a couple kits to have whenever she ended up giving birth which was no time soon. So, you can imagine my surprise to find her there when she still had a couple more months to go. Not to mention the fact that she happened to be at her bed at that time and not in the neonatal care unit. She had given birth to a boy and a girl. I don't recall the girls name but the boys name was Brandon. He stood out to me as he was born with liquid on his brain.  Please keep him in your prayers. We were genuinely happy to see one another and I felt like this was just another watering of a seed that had been planted prior. Later I had to stop and take note of the various occurrences of the day.  Taking in account of all that had happened, everything from my own hand in planning the day the time, the quantity of kits...to what was "out of my hands", the delay, the rushing through the rooms, and realized that the chance happening of running into this lady precisely when she was at her bed, on that day, and at that exact time was not merely a "coincidence". Literally a few minutes earlier or later we could have missed her as I said earlier most of the time you spend in neonatal if your babies are there. And  as such I have to then deduce that in both the area that you have "control" of and those out of our "control" God indeed guides us. So this day was filled with many moments of whom many would say are just coincidences. I leave it for you to determine for yourself.  But as for me I believe God works mysteriously and you can see His hand in even the littlest things if you keep your eyes open.