An Encounter from the Past

God most definitely has a sense of humor! 

For those of you who know me, know that exercise does not rank in the top 1000 things I enjoy to do.  Couch potato is an excellent description of me and if it weren't for the 30 pounds I'd like to lose and the fact that I am afraid I won't have a car when we get to Spain and thus need to build up some walking endurance, i wouldn't be doing it now.  But, I gave Scott a gym membership for Christmas and then joined myself too.  I then decided a personal trainer was what I really needed.  So, I took all my Christmas money and bought 12 sessions.  And then God intervened!

I have a fabulous trainer.  She is soft spoken and encouraging, yet pushes me to do more than I would without her.  I have learned a lot.  If the saying "no pain no gain" is accurate, then I should be gaining a good deal (and not weight).  I am trying to figure out my finances to keep her for a little while longer - I really enjoy my sessions with her.

Through the weeks I have learned that she "doesn't do that church thing."  Isn't that just like God?  I hired  a trainer for the sole purpose of preparing to go to the mission field and he put it right in my lap.  Needless to say, there have been some interesting conversations.  Pray for me as I continue to live out my faith both in actions and words to my "captivated" audience.

But, that wasn't enough for God.  This past week a girl came up and started talking to my trainer.  My trainer tried to cut the conversation short so that it wasn't occurring during my paid time.  But I recognized the voice, but not the person.  As I continued to do exercises she kept talking and I kept trying to place who it was.  Finally she said to me, "you don't recognize me do you?  you have a daughter don't you?  about 15 or 16?  and an older son?  can't remember how old he would be?  yo had several miscarriages too, didn't you?"  By now I am beginning to feel like I have had a 20 year stalker and didn't even know it.  Then she said, "remember, we participated in Comfort at Women's Hospital together 16+ years ago?"

Comfort is a support group for families, although almost totally attended by women, who have had a pregnancy loss.  I attended and then later served as a counselor for the group around the time Hannah was conceived and then born.  She kept chatting and my trainer shared that I was at the gym to build endurance because I was moving to Spain to plant churches (remember, she isn't a believer).  This old friend then said "we probably haven't seen each other since my 2nd marriage and divorce (I had seen her a couple of times in the last 16 years) - he was a missionary and then came back to be a pastor.  But he should have stayed in the foreign country cause he was planting a whole lot more than churches.  So what kind of church planter are you going to be?" 

She didn't really want an answer.  She changed the subject to tell me of her kids and then said she'd see me around the gym later.  My trainer just stood there quiet through it all.  But a few machines later she said "you really lost 7 pregnancies?  how did you survive?"  My answer "the love and faithfulness of God." 

Only God could take someone who hates exercise, put them at the gym and impress upon them to hire a personal trainer, have them working with a non-believer trainer who also trained a friend from 16 years ago who had experienced life's hurts alongside them, and then orchestrate such an encounter!