God's Timing

by Jacob Thomsen

There is a life verse I’ve mentioned before because it has played a very significant role in how I was saved. Proverbs 16:9 says, “A man’s heart plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps.” That verse means so much to me, because it reached me when I needed it most.

There is a young man from a small town in North Dakota who has amazing talent and went to play football at one of our state’s public universities, that has an incredible story and testimony. He is a great Christian man and I admire him very much. We’ve never met, yet God has allowed his story to impact me in a significant way.

He had a skiing accident which caused a major injury, and the community rallied around him. I could not imagine going through something like this. In an instant, he lost the ability to play the sport he loved, but more significantly, his ability to walk. In spite of that, every update I saw about him contained that he had an incredibly positive attitude, because of the light he had from Christ and the trust he had in God.

As an aside, one of the good things that came from this skiing accident was the spread of support from North Dakotans across the state. Someone once told me that North Dakota is just one big, very spread out, small town. I certainly don’t think that’s a bad thing. It shows that we truly care about each other, and this story emphasizes that point.

As one of the ways to fundraise for him, there were wristbands with his hashtag on them, and on the other side was a Bible verse, Proverbs 16:9. My mom bought some and sent them my way. At the time, I was not yet saved, and I was seriously struggling with what I was supposed to do with my life. I read that verse and gained a whole new perspective.

The timing of all of this was absolutely remarkable to me. It was at a time when I had about two or three other things going on in my life that were beckoning me to Christ. I was taking one of the religion classes that are required at the University of Mary and had a tremendous teacher. I had also been told by my mom about a church I should check out.

I certainly do not believe in coincidences. God reached out to me, and I heard Him. He used many different ways to reach me, including that situation with a horrible skiing accident. “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose,” Romans 8:28.

This is a testament to the fact that when bad things happen in this world, God can use them for good. It can be easy to get discouraged when trials and tribulations come upon us, but we ought to remember that there is hope in Christ Jesus and that He is with us every step of the way, even before we recognize it.