More on "Divine Appointments"

In my previous post, I mentioned, among other things, the possibility of "divine appointments" in which we are linked up with someone who can answer our prayer needs, or may have the privilege of being part of the answer to someone else's prayer. I commented that "When I pray that I might be a blessing to others, the opportunities appear." So I had made a public announcement of being willing, or as public as it gets on this blog, and had prayed, as usual, that I might be a blessing to someone. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised by what happened.

My brother, Richard, and I have made it a habit of late to go out exploring one day a week. We've been to many of the small towns in our area, taking in the sights, visiting museums, and browsing through second-hand shops. We've been to Winlock to see the World's Largest Egg and may attend their Egg Day in June. We're looking forward to riding the steam train near Mount Rainier. On the day after my previous post, we were in the little town of Raymond, Washington. We had admired the park and all the artwork along the streets, and thought we would go visit the Carriage Museum. But first we took a detour to check out a little consignment shop that had caught my eye.

There was nothing in the shop that screamed "buy me" too loudly, so we were ready to go. I thanked the proprietor for letting us look, and offered her some of my bookmarks, mentioning that I write children's books.

She immediately became very excited, and said she had been praying for someone who could tell her how to publish the book she's been working on for several years. We must have talked for over an hour, as we discussed all the things that need to happen to get a book in front of the public--editing or polishing the writing, submitting to publishers, publicity, etc. I told her I didn't think I had the expertise to guide her through the whole process, but that I'd be happy to make suggestions and steer her toward other people who could help with each aspect.

By the time we finally got to the carriage museum, it had just closed. Oh well, it will be there for another day.

I spent most of the next day putting together a package of suggestions and reference material. I hope it helps.