Today was a day that reminded why I’m here. And so as not to be nonspecific, by “here” I mean on earth; the purpose for my life. I know there isn’t just one, but today I was reminded of one.

I was spending some time with one of my friends; one of the teens in our student ministry. I had spoken with this person yesterday during a particularly rough time. I shared what I could with this person and quite honestly, just hoped for the best. But part of the blessing that I’m talking about–the blessing of knowing why I’m here came in those precious moments when it was just the two of us talking, but I knew beyond any doubt that there were three of us there. The third was guiding, helping, and happy with the other two of us as we spoke. The third was God Himself.

If anyone happens to read this and isn’t persuaded quite yet of the existence, presence, and power of God–and I mean the God of the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of Moses, the God of Israel, the God who redeems, the God who heals, the God who restores, the God who uses someone as flawed as I am to accomplish His purposes–if you don’t know that God then what I’m saying now is quite literally nonsense, I suppose. Keep reading if you want to.

In those moments yesterday as I opened my mouth and spoke, I can say with all confidence that it wasn’t a simple flow of words rooted in human intellect. These were not flimsy antecdotes, flung in some effort to hit somewhere near any point of relevence. These words, while spoken in my voice, I truly believe were crafted by God. Please don’t hear me say that I am God or would ever claim to be. Like John the Baptist, “I am not worthy to untie His sandals”. But I know that God took hold, partnered with me, joined with my life experience, my personality, my leanings, and spoke through me. How do I know? After seeing the results, how could I not?

Only just over 24 hours later, I met with this person again for another conversation. And the difference was more than human explanation could do justice. It was a fulfillment of the verse in Philippians 4: “And the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus.” This person said themselves, “Nothing has changed–my situation, my struggle, my frustration–but now I’m different. I’m at peace. I’m free.” This person used the word “magic”, but only to indicate the drastic, unexplainable difference he felt, not to give credit to “magic” the way the world would understand it.

And so there I was, driving in my car, listening to this person tell their story. The story that had evolved to nearly exactly the opposite of what it was just a day before. And God used me in that story. God did work in that person’s life after reaching into His toolbox and finding me fit for service. Wow.