Last month my friend Jenster asked me if I wanted to go on vacation. “Of course,” I said. She wanted to go to the beach, so I started looking around at some different options.
A couple weeks later she reached out and said, “I think the Lord is telling us to go to Paris, TX.” Um… okay? I learned a long time ago that if the Lord is telling Jennifer to do something, it’s better to listen.
She sent me a picture of the cabin she found and I didn’t need to see anything besides the rocking chair on the front porch. “Sounds like a plan to me.”
I Googled “Things to do in Paris, TX” and the list was pretty short, but hey.. there was an Eiffel tower with a cowboy hat and I’m pretty easy to impress, so there’s that.
We were planning to go in July, but she “accidentally” booked it for June, but before she cancelled she said, “I really feel like these are the dates we’re supposed to go. I don’t think it was an accident.”
I put a call into my boss, the Lord showed me favor, and instead of a July vacation, we had a week to prepare.
Still not knowing why God had sent us to Paris, TX, we fished, sat on the front porch for hours, prayed, laughed, talked, fell out of hammocks (me , not her), shopped, and of course, ate. P.S. Paris, TX has a to-go daiquiri shop.
We were supposed to check out and go back home Wednesday, but God… He had other plans. The owner of the cabin started up a conversation with us and before we knew it she said in her sweet southern drawl, “Y’all can stay an extra day. No charge. Here’s the code to the gate. Check out on Thursday around Noon.”
I’m sorry, what? But God…
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In conversation on Wednesday, enjoying our extra free day, we started talking about our beautiful friend Carolyn, and the fact that she’s from Texas. We stalked her Facebook to see where and learned her hometown was only 45 minutes from us. As we walked around, there was a knowing in my spirit that we were supposed to go there, but I wasn’t sure if it was me or the daiq… Mexican food settling in.
On Thursday morning, I was lying in bed praying and I asked Papa for a divine appointment. Later that afternoon we were visiting a coffee and book store and the owner asked us where we were from. We explained that we’d met in the middle (me in MO, Jennifer in LA).
He looked at us with disdain and said, “Why would you come to Paris, TX for vacation?” His love for the town was extremely enthusiastic (she says with sarcasm).
We then mentioned Sulfur Springs, TX, where our sweet friend Carolyn was from and he said, “That’s where you need to go. Their downtown is beautiful.”
Ahh… it wasn’t the Mexican food not settling in my stomach. It was God confirming we were supposed to go. Perhaps that’s where we’d find our divine appointment.
So, we got in the car and decided to drive. And we both knew at that time exactly what we were supposed to do next.
Carolyn’s mom lives in an assisted living facility in Sulfur Springs. We were going to pay her a visit and bring her some treats. Not knowing if we should just drop them off because she’d never met us, or go in for a visit, the Lord kept leading the way.
And so it was.. we met Carolyn’s sweet Mama. She told us fun stories, Carolyn got to FaceTime with her, but most beautifully, before we left, we held the hand of this sweet woman who battles dementia and prayed over her.
As we walked out of that room I said to Jennifer, “This was it. This is why we were supposed to come to Paris, TX.” I walked down the hallway of that facility smiling and thanking Papa for that divine appointment.
You just never know where Papa will lead you if you let Him. We weren’t supposed to go to the beach. We weren’t supposed to go in July. We were supposed to go to Paris, TX, restore our souls in a cabin in the middle of nowhere, and stand in the authority of Jesus and pray for a woman we’d never met.
We were supposed to do it on a Wednesday. For most of the world, it was just Wednesday. For us, it was a divine appointment.
What if Jennifer hadn’t listen to Holy Spirit’s “weird” prompting to go to Texas instead of the beach?
What if I had said, “Girl, you’re crazy. I’m not spending my vacation with an eiffel tower and a cowboy hat.”
What if we had just assumed she made a booking mistake and switched it back to July?
We would’ve missed out on God’s plans.
As I’ve processed through the last week and our divine appointment, it’s made me ask Papa to help me still my heart so I can hear Him more, because I don’t want to miss something that looks so simple, yet is so powerful!
Here’s to obedience in the little things.