One of the things I learned from Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point is that I am a connector. (You can check and see if you are one by clicking here). I gain great satisfaction in connecting people together, and I love to see how God beautifully weaves our stories together.Recently I experienced this on quite a sweeping scale.

It started with a tweet from someone I didn’t recognize. He said he had a ten-minute slot for me to interview worship leader, Kari Jobe, for my blog. She had a song featured in a movie about sex trafficking in India.

His next tweet helped clarify who he was. “P.S. It’s Michael, the French press guy from D-Now.” Ah yes! Years ago as a college student, he had led my son’s group at our house during a discipleship weekend. We introduced him to the French press, and he found out then I was a published writer. Must’ve been five years since I’d last heard from him. Turns out, he’s married since then and landed a job at a prestigious PR firm.

Knowing my daughter and her friends adored Kari Jobe, and my passion for helping sex trafficked victims, I said yes. I listened to Kari’s song, watched the trailer for the upcoming movie, and marveled again at how God wove things together. The movie, set in India, captured my heart, as did my pre-boyfriend Patrick weeks before he left for Calcutta, India for three months. That country marks the beginning of our relationship, a significant turning point in Patrick’s walk with Jesus, and our collective hearts for the people of this world who suffer.

I called Sophie and told her I’d be chatting on the phone with Kari, and asked her if she had any questions she’d like me to ask. She did.

So when I talked to Kari, I let her know about all our little connections, that my daughter saw her at Passion that year, that my husband had been in India a significant amount of time, and that I sometimes wrote books and blogs about recovering from sexual abuse.

She told me about her heart for victims, how she learned about the problem through Christine Caine who started a ministry, the A21 Campaign. I told her about the book I wrote last month, a book that poured out of me like water, to help victims of sexual abuse. She offered to send the book to Christine—a winsome surprise.

I asked her Sophie’s questions and we said our goodbyes. But as I hung up the phone, I realized afresh just how connected we all, how God saw fit to orchestrate this ten-minute phone call through a college leader, a trip to India, a heart to heal abuse victims and a famous worship leader.

When I fret about getting older and see those crazy wrinkles around my eyes, I realize that being a connector is what brings the deepest joy.

I will grow wiser, but I’ll also grow more connected. I’ll have more opportunities to introduce folks to each other. I’ll have more stories like this one, woven from the fabric of acquaintances and circumstances.

I imagine in heaven we’ll see ten thousand stories like this, how God seamed random encounters into holy coincidences, all for the sake of His plan for folks.