One Friday afternoon, my friend Colette called me. Her husband, an evangelist, was attending a Pathfinder camporee. Would I be willing to come on Sabbath and preach to their small church group? I told her I would be happy to help. Not having time to prepare a sermon, I prayed and looked through some old sermons. I didn’t feel particularly inspired by any of them, but I put one in a folder to take along.

Early Sabbath morning, I hauled out my motorcycle and drove the 17 miles to Colette’s church. I was the first to arrive. The building was still under construction. It had dirt floors and no windows or plaster yet. I took a seat inside. As I reviewed my sermon, I dozed off with my head propped on my hand. I awoke to the sound of voices and got myself ready to greet people. Amazingly, everyone arrived on time.

After song service, Colette took the children to the back corner, and I stood up to teach the adults. Then a very strange thing happened. When I opened my mouth to speak, instead of the message I had planned, a completely different message came out. It was like I had no control over my own speech. As I talked about how we cannot always understand God’s reasons when bad things happen to us, I wondered why I was talking about this and where I was going with it. I suddenly felt impressed to look at the back of one of my note sheets, and there was a list of verses on the topic. We read Romans 8:28 and several other verses talking about praising God in all things. I talked until I saw that Colette was done with the kids, and then I brought it to an end.

Later that day when Colette and I were by ourselves, she told me that when I had started speaking, she could hardly believe her ears. She went on to tell me that one of the ladies in church was experiencing difficult challenges and was struggling with why God had allowed them to happen to her. Colette had been encouraging her, but she hadn’t found peace with the situation. But when Colette heard me begin speaking, she knew God was talking straight to this lady through me, though I had no idea what was going on.

My confusion about how the day had gone turned to delight. I praised God for His amazing guidance and direction and for speaking through my mouth. Colette laughed and said I had been like Balaam. Thanks, God!

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