This past weekend Matlyn and I went to the Women of Joy conference in Indianapolis IN to promote the upcoming film release of Overcomer (in theaters 8/23). We set up our banner and booth space and chatted it up about the film with women from across Indiana and beyond. 

Women of Joy weekend events host a variety of speakers and one of the speakers this weekend was New York Times Best Selling Author Karen Kingsbury. I’ve never heard Kingsbury speak so I was interested to hear what her talk would be about. She told hilarious stories! The crowd definitely loved her! But one thing she spoke about really stood out to me. 

She talked about the day her father had a massive heart attack that eventually led to his death six weeks later. However, in that moment, another grandchild (not Karen’s child) had tried in vain to save him, even preforming CPR on him until the ambulance arrived. However, he was already alarmingly close to death when they got there. A police officer ran into the kitchen and told Karen’s mother that they needed to pray right now for Jesus to raise her husband like he had raised Lazarus. Even though her mom felt like it was hopeless, she prayed anyway and her husband miraculously started breathing. He had six more weeks with his family and everyone was able to say the things they needed to say to him before he passed. Also, because he lived that day, the grandchild who wasn’t able to save him, doesn’t have to live with the guilt of blaming himself for something that of course wouldn’t even have been his fault. A little while later, Karen and her mother wanted to thank the officer who was there that day. They contacted the police department and through some questioning, were told they never had an officer working there by the name they provided. She truly believes he was an angel sent to them from God to help strengthen their faith to pray for a miracle. She quoted the verse from the Bible: “Be sure to welcome strangers into your home. By doing this, some people have welcomed angels as guests, without even knowing it.”  Hebrews 13:2 (CEV)

What a great reminder that you never know who your path is going to cross. So often we see strangers and turn away because we’re lost in our own to do list, deciding not to even greet them. Or we are just too busy to help someone who may need our help, so we ignore them and hope they don’t notice. Could it be an angel? I know that personally I don’t want to ignore an angel! I am encouraged to be more aware of the miraculous that may be happening around me. I want to be a part of it, that’s for sure. Take the time to notice people around you this week! There may be someone with a need you can fill or even just someone who needs a smile and a kind word. You never know who you may be talking to!

Angi Flatt – Project Manager – Engage Media Partners