By Tina Teng-Henson

It’s bewildering to me how God works.

This morning, I woke up so groggy, but I just knew I had to open up the scriptures and try to connect with the Lord. It had been longer than I knew was healthy since I had spent some good quality time with him. I read through several chapters of Acts. Then I turned to the end of the Psalms and just spent some time ingesting those words of praise. 

Without drama or fanfare, he turned my attention to a woman I first met about ten years ago through a pastors’ cohort. I’d run into her just a few weeks ago here in my area, and she’d just relocated from elsewhere in the state. We had a really meaningful time of reconnection and prayer – and made plans to reconnect more regularly. I had sent a follow-up email but we hadn’t set a date.

I felt God say, “she just needs friends.” And so I emailed her out of obedience to that voice, and offered to gather a few women to connect her to so she would have more friends in the area. 

Immediately she wrote back to say, with genuine gladness and surprise: “Tina, you couldn’t have known. Today is my BIRTHDAY!  Another friend has the same idea. Let’s do it!” 

God prompting this was completely purposeful. I’m so glad I tuned in to listen to him! 

This encourages me because I often am not quite sure what God is trying to do in my life. Mostly, I think he’s refashioning me, molding the inner recesses of my character, my motivations for life, my reason for being. He’s taken away a lot of the usual preoccupations that direct my time and energy. He’s revealed the shadow side of ministry. It feels like a prolonged season of sabbatical to promote a different kind of growth. 

So when clear moments like this surface, I pay attention. It may be a confirmation of the calling to be a spiritual director and companionate friend to those in ministry. It may also be a quiet word of encouragement that I’m still tracking with the Lord, and that I shouldn’t give up. 

Friend, I don’t know what is going on in your life. But if you want a spiritual director and companionate friend to listen and pray for you in this season of your life, reach out. It would be a privilege and an honor to hear your heart, and to pray with you on a regular basis. May God bless the work that he has called each of us to be about. May we endeavor upon it with joy, perseverance, and hope. May he be ours always, and with us constantly. 

Tina Teng-Henson serves as a spiritual director and hospice chaplain. As a wife and mother of three, she occasionally guest-preaches and teaches. When she’s not volunteering at her children’s schools, she plays volleyball, reads, and writes.