Sadly, their Dad committed suicide a week ago. As their Mum doesn’t drive or have a car, it was arranged for a relative to drive L to the funeral in a country town some three hours away (T didn’t want to go); and that we would bring her back home.

However I couldn’t believe my eyes when L’s family came out of the house to say hello, there was a face I recognised! The grandmother’s sister was K – a lady from our church who had visited our cell group only a couple of weeks before! Being a large church, we probably wouldn’t have met otherwise. I know we were both encouraged, even without saying a word, to realise that there is another Christian in this family’s life to love and care for them.

Now if that isn’t a God-incidence, I don’t know what is!

Of course it’s devastating that their dad took his own life -  but at least God has been busy placing His people all around the family to support them, and hopefully love them into His Kingdom. “For such a time as this …”

Good luck with your book launch Kathie.  I received the first ‘God Incidence’ that I chose to recognize this week.

It was simple really.  The previous day I had been sorting a LOT of papers and I wrote a small list of some things I wanted to do soon.  Then I could not find the list.

The next day I decided I would go and look for it (in all the mess), but the phone rang.  It was a lovely call and it prompted me to look in my diary, and out fell the small list of things to do.

It may not seem like much, but it was such a simple thing (and I HATE losing things) and at the time, I was feeling quite alone (not just because I work from a home office), so I felt as if I really did have someone by my side.

After reading some of your blog today, I will probably start seeing a lot more of these in the future - how blind I have been!

Cheers, Sue

And it really is that simple - God helping us to find things.   Kathie.

Have you ever experienced an amazing co-incidence in your life?  One so amazing that later you ask yourself if perhaps it was the hand of God at work?  Well, according to author Kathie Thomas, it just might be.  She says that instead of a co-incidence, you may have experienced a God–incidence.

Kathie first heard the term “God-incidence” from her pastor a few years ago While listening to a sermon on how God used Joseph and his betrayal by his brothers to ultimately save the Hebrew nation, and how everything – every “coincidence” that occurred in Joseph’s life -actually moved him closer to his destined path, she realized that she too had experienced many such moments in her own life.

Kathie began searching the internet and found that many others were also having these same experiences.  She asked others to share their stories.  Those stories became a book – “It Happened by Design”.

It’s a wonderful book.  Kathie has changed nothing in the retelling of the many stories sent to her.  They ring with faith and truth.   And as you read you realize that, just as Kathie says, the hand of God is moving in the lives of these individuals.

My favorite story is almost the last one in the book – Surprise!  God-incidence.  It tells the story of a woman who discovers God’s calling for her in a surprising way.  As I read it, I felt tears come – and then an amazing peace.  You see, I have been feeling a similar call as the one in the story – a call to reach out and bring God’s word to other women.  But then I turn away.  Surely God has another plan for a simple business woman from Arkansas?  Then suddenly Kathie asks for friends to review her newest book.  And I say I will – although I have never done such a thing before.  And I read a story of a woman who hears God’s call and I know that this is the path I am to take.  Co-incidence?  Of course not!  God-incidence!  As Kathie shows so beautifully in her book – it happened by design.

Melodieann Whiteley,  WealthTogether, Inc.

Thank you.

I hope you like the cover!  I’m thrilled with it and graphic designer, Jodi Salisbury, has done a great job, don’t you think?

If you would like to pre-order the book, or read about the contributing authors, please do drop by the book’s website at “It Happened By Design“

Let me set the scene.

I recently launched my book “Worth More Than Rubies” at Amazon.com. I set up a promotion for a 24 hour period and watched the ranking of my book go from 900,000+ up to 1,127 which was quite exciting. Sales were coming in. I discovered that Amazon has an RSS feed for the top 100 Hot New Releases for my genre, so I subscribed to it, but it only shows 1 book a day from that list of 100.

You know what’s coming don’t you? Overnight, whilst I was asleep, my book reached number 23 but when I saw it 12 hours later on the feed reader it had moved back down again so I would never have been able to witness this or even know it had happened. Why was my book showing instead of someone else’s on the feed reader? Random books are shown every day, in different positions and yet mine was the focus for that particular time the information was posted.

Only God could have orchestrated that for me otherwise I would never have known.

There was an email link and I sent off an inquiry asking the Senior Sergeant if he knew of anyone who might be willing to help. The entry on Google was almost two years old and I had no idea if the email link would still work.

Within an hour, I received an unexpected phone call. It was the Senior Sergeant - now an acting District Inspector - asking for more information.

I told him of my needs, and what I hoped to do. By the end of my phone call, I had my very own Police Liaison Officer; a Christian, who said he would be delighted to give me any help I needed. Eighteen months later, after countless emails, a few phone calls, two visits to Melbourne including one where I stayed with Paul and his family, my novel is complete.

Along the way, Paul spent twelve months in East Timor as part of the United Nations Peace Keeping Force, and I was able to write an article on his experiences as part of an assignment for a writing course I’m currently doing.

Not only did I receive help with my novel, and an important assignment, but I have made some new friends who have given me so much love and support on my journey as a writer.

Lynne Churchyard, Faithwriters.com

I returned home from a business workshop/seminar this morning to find a 10 min old Skype message asking if I was around for a chat about something? I Skyped back to say I’d just got in and shall we chat? And so we did a short time later.

The guy who contacted me outlined a new project he’s working on and that he saw me as someone who could possibly get involved - that he was aware of the things I’d been doing online and where my interests lay.

Now I can’t yet divulge what the project is but as we spoke two things came up that can only be God-incidences.

1. He asked me about doing copy writing for a website he’s working on - I’d just returned from a copywriting workshop! Amazing. I know I can write but learning how to refine it for clients is important and so here I was, not even home a half hour after the course and already my first job lined up!

2. He mentioned the field of possible clients he was looking at for his project (unrelated to number 1 above) and immediately a name of a very well known personality popped into mind. I mentioned who I was thinking of and the caller got real excited as this was exactly the same person he’d been talking with over the past few months. He wanted to know if I knew this person personally and I told him that the PA and I are very good friends and have been on committees together for over 10 years.

So I promised to contact the PA and put in a good word for him. Enter the third thing that happened as a result of this conversation. Turns out the PA (my friend) had been telling her boss (the well known personality) about things I’d been doing online. And then I go and contact her about the very same thing!

Talk about timing. I love when these divine connections happen and you can see God written all over it! I can’t wait to see what’s going to happen next.

While my city was celebrating the wonder of our first Olympic games, my life was about to change, forever.  I was asleep, and had entered the dream world. Here I was, strolling beside the sea-side, water so blue and crystal-clear, the sand beneath my feet soft as silk and so white that it was almost blinding.

There was no other soul on the beach, but suddenly I was aware of a presence walking beside me, speaking words of comfort, reassurance. I couldn’t see the face, but I immediately recognised the person. His dress was almost as white as the sand that we walked upon, it felt like time had stopped. Just as clear as this picture was, so too the feeling of a tap on my shoulder. The kind of tapping as if someone were trying to get my attention, and I awoke.

Looking around the bedroom, I expected to wake with either my husband, or one of my children needing me… everyone lay fast asleep.

The next morning, I gathered the family, describing the dream, and the sensation of the hand on my shoulder…no one could explain so I tried to put it out of my mind.

he following day brought my answer. My mother, who had been fighting a battle with cancer, had fallen during the night…. my father found her the next morning.  As I drove my car recklessly up the motorway to her house, I realised in an instant my dream had been a message, a warning. I will always believe that the dream along with the hand that woke me, were both letting me know… ‘Get ready’

“Side by Side” poem written by Debbie Stevens, is based upon this incident.