Overwhelming Answer to Prayer

I am an Orthodox Christian that has been Christian all my life. I attended Catholic school and bring my oldest son to Sunday school on a regular basis.

The coronavirus shut down was a difficult time for many people. Churches and businesses were closed. We were constantly bombarded with news of death. It was at this time that my insurance broker called me out of the blue to discuss my life insurance policy. Coincidentally at the same time, my YouTube feed began to fill with videos on “why God doesn’t exist” and “why there is no life after death”. It was the first time in my life that I questioned the existence of God. My doubts were so strong.

One night  my wife asked why I seemed so upset. I told her that I missed going to church with my oldest son, Nikos. I missed having coffee and lunch in the church basement after the service/Sunday school. That night I asked God for a sign of his existence. Not a small sign, but an ostentatious one. We are told stories of Moses and the burning bush and Elias and the miracle fire, but God has not revealed Himself so ostentatiously is modern times.

THE NEXT DAY, I left the house to do some planned inspections of construction sites (part of my employment). I conducted the first inspection as usual. While driving to my second inspection, something inside me told me to skip it, so I did. I started driving to my third. Something inside me told me to skip it, so I did. Then something inside me told me to drive to another part of the city, so I did.

Sure enough, there was a construction site there. I talked to the superintendent on site, a middle eastern man, and he gave me a tour. We entered his site trailer to discuss some corrective actions. In his office and on his desk was the Septuagint (version of the Bible Orthodox Christian’s and Roman Catholics use). It was in Arabic. This is something never seen in construction. We started talking and I realized he was also an Orthodox Christian (we are a minority Christian group in North America). He told me, and I quote:

“the thing I miss the most is going to church with my son. After church we go into the church basement for coffee and lunch. Coronavirus is actually a gift from God. We have so many gifts in this world that we take for granted. This has made us realize what we have and that God provides.”

The fact that I asked for a sign the night before. The fact that something inside put me off route to this specific site where I found this man who was the same minority denomination as me and who quoted what I told my wife the night before was God’s sign. I cannot reconcile this with coincidence.