Spiritual Direction, an Ohio Town, & the God of Surprises

OH county maps by Catbar, the dot is Piqua

“I’ve always known God to be the 'God of Surprises'!” the twinkly-eyed 80-year-old woman said after I asked her to tell me about her relationship with God.

“Take you for instance,” she went on, “I woke up in the night a few weeks ago and heard God say, ‘Spiritual direction would be good for you,’ and I said, ‘Yes, Lord, I’m listening, who do you want me to see?’”

She paused then said, “And immediately your face came to mind!  I remembered you and it didn’t even matter to me that you weren’t Catholic!” 

I didn’t know her too well and hadn’t seen her since before the pandemic began.  In fact, I was amazed she even remembered me at all!

“But then you told me you had no openings,” she said incredulously, “So I said, ‘Well, Lord, I’ll trust you anyway.”

Her eyes lit up as she said, “And now here you sit!”

Three days after I told her I had no openings, I wondered what spiritual director would be able to go see her as she no longer was able to drive.  As I thought about who lived close to her, I realized that she lived near the place my daughter took fencing lessons, so I actually did have space in my monthly calendar when I could go see her!
 
We laughed and I said, “God of Surprises for sure!”
 
She told me that while it had been close to a decade since she’d seen a spiritual director, God had always brought the right ones to her at the right time.  “Every single one I have connected with and they have become dear to me,” she reflected.
 
Then I asked her where she grew up (it's not a question I usually ask but I did that day).
 
She leaned forward (as to let me in on a secret), “A little town called, Pick-way, O-hi-o!”

“You grew up in Piqua, Ohio?!” I said laughing, “Not only do I know where that is, but that’s my hometown, too!”

“God of Surprises!” we both exclaimed.

We reminisced about Piqua, the streets we lived on and schools we attended.  I told her that my parents still lived there and also had a tiny cottage up on Lake Loramie.  “Do you know where that is?” I asked her.

“Of course! It’s on State Woot 66 and the reason I say "Woot" is because I had a coach for a teacher who had a speech impediment—” 
I leaped forward in my chair, interrupting her excitedly, “You had Coach Heil!”

“What?!” she exclaimed, “You knew him, too?!”

“I did because he was my Health teacher AND my Drivers’ Ed instructor!  Wow, you had him when he was a young pup in his 20s at Piqua Catholic and I had him when he was in his 60s at Piqua High School!”

“God of Surprises!” we gleefully shouted in unison, now both of us suspecting we were part of a Divine secret.

We sat in silence for a few moments just marveling, shaking our heads.

“I tell you, I would never have guessed in a million years that I would be sitting here in Nashville, Tennessee, talking to you about Piqua, Ohio, and Coach Heil!” I laughed.

“I know it, God of Surprises, I told you, it's always been true!" she responded, "I need to call my sister in Ohio because she is never going to believe this!”
 
Believe it or not, there were even more surprising revelations of connection that she shared with me that first session! 

The hour came to a close and we hugged.  I could tell I had already become dear to her and she had become dear to me.  There was no doubt the Holy Spirit was the true Spiritual Director!

I crawled into my car and couldn't help but cry tears of gratitude all the way back to the fencing club, full of wonder and awe at the God of Surprises.   

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Fort Piqua Hotel, photo by Christopher L. Riley, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons