I don’t know about your life, but when I look back on the past 25 years of my life, there are a ton of “It Just So Happened…” moments where if even the tiniest thing happened differently, my life would be totally different.
One of the biggest “It Just So Happened…” sequences was when I landed at LifeChurch.tv working on YouVersion. It all started when I just so happened to be driving home from one of my most rewarding college classes, it just so happened that I decided to listen to the Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast, and it just so happened that the episode I picked to listen to was one where Andy was talking about the fact that to reach people no one else is reaching, you have to do things no one else is doing. It just so happened that in my class, we had been talking a lot about how to get results no one else is getting, you have to do things no one else was doing. It just so happened that Andy mentioned Craig Groeschel as the originator of this powerful idea, and it just so happened that a Google search for his name lead me to LifeChurch.tv. It just so happened that I spotted a jobs page, and it just so happened that they had a posting for a Linux system administrator. It just so happened that I was in the active job search phase, and it just so happened that I was looking for work as a Linux system administrator. And it just so happened that they offered me the job.
And, it just so happened I turned them down. Rather, God turned them down. I wanted to take it, but after a week of praying and figuring out what God wanted me to do, it was clear that I wasn’t supposed to accept it.
Through several more, “it just so happened…” events, things changed and it became clear that’s where God wanted me. So here I am.
That’s not even the full story. There are still several other “it just so happened” events that I left out. What is amazing to me is that any single one of them could have gone another way and I wouldn’t be where I am today. And through several other “it just so happened” events, I wouldn’t be at Flatirons, or in Kid’s ministry, or student ministry. And yet, here I am. Feeling like I am doing exactly what I was made to do.
Going back through life, there are so many times where what my life turned out to be, rested on a small number of chance “it just so happened” events. All these pivotal “it just so happened” moments didn’t seem important or significant at the time, but looking backwards it’s apparent that God did something there.
Now I really don’t believe in predestination, I don’t think God has every step of your life planned out in advance. What I do know is that if you follow after trying to life your life for God, that he will align all things in your life in amazing, unbelievable and often subtle ways. As Proverbs says, if you acknowledge God in your life, He will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:6)
I am increasingly convinced those moments of “It just so happened that…” are those small moments where God is showing up in your life and working things out for your good.