There are no coincidences with God

Posted by Molly

Today was Grandparents Day at St Raphael School.  It is a lovely tradition and the grandparents enjoy it so much but it can be bittersweet if there is someone who is noticeably not there.  My son, Mac, loves Grandparents Day so I try to get excited about it, too, but a little of my heart feels broken every year knowing my mom should be there.  My husband's parents are great about going.  Last year my own Dad couldn't make it.  It wasn't his fault but I still felt I let down.  He has had it tough since my mom died.  As hard as it was on me, it was a thousand times worse for him and he lost his faith.  I try to be extra faithful to make up for that and I hope one day he will find his way back to God but for now all I can do it pray for him and love him


So anyhow, this year my Dad, my husband's two parents, and my son, Mac, all went into the Grandparents Day brunch in the Trumpet room this morning.  They had assigned seating and ended up sitting with two families that Mac and I know well.  The grandmother from one of the other families sat down next to my dad at that table.  That woman was Rita McCormick - my mother's childhood best friend.  What are the chances?

I have known Rita McCormick's daughter for a couple of years now through the nursery school.  Her older son actually helped out Mac's birthday party because he's friends with another teenage boy that we're friends with.  We've chatted a million times and never made this connection.  What are the chances?

When I was growing up and my mom would talk about her days as a young girl, all of her stories starred Rita McCormick and Sheila Courtney.  Rita and Sheila were like celebrities in our house.  I knew their stories better than I knew some of my own.  When my mom was having hard times later in life and she wanted to think of happy times, it always came back to her days at Campus School with Rita and Sheila. 

I had to pick Charlie up from nursery school a few minutes before Grandparents Day was ending and my dad has not been feeling well this week so I got to school a little early to check on him.  When I found him at Mac's table, he said "this is your mother's friend, Rita McCormick" and I almost burst into tears. Chills ran through me and I was speechless which is really uncommon for me.

There were many, many other tables where Mac and his grandparents could have been seated but they ended up sitting with the childhood best friend of a grandmother who died before Mac was born.  What are the chances?  Well, I've quoted my friend Ginger before and I'll do it again, "there are no coincidences with God".  Somehow from heaven my mother and Our Father put these two families together so that we would know my mother was there with us.  I have no doubt that this was not a coincidence.  I have no doubt that she was there and it was because of Him. 

As we were walking out of school, I said to my dad "What are the chances that we'd see Rita McCormick here?  I have chills.  I know nothing effects you, but..." and he stopped me and said "Molly, everything effects me. I just don't show it." and in his few words I could feel a tiny bit of his faith returning.  People say that God works in mysterious ways, but I don't think there is anything mysterious about it.  God saw a father and a daughter who were lost and he gave us a sign that the person we miss the most is still with us.  And I am so very thankful.