Familiar Faces in Difficult Times

Around the age of thirty, I knew a woman named Kristy who worked as a VIP host in Las Vegas.

Because of the industry we worked in, we often crossed paths unexpectedly. In one three-day

period alone, I was introduced to her five different times by five different clients.

But something even more unusual happened later.

In one year I was arrested three separate times for traffic violations and unpaid parking tickets.

Each arrest happened in a different place under different circumstances.

Yet every time I was sitting in the back of the police car, I looked out the window and saw Kristy

driving by.

Three different arrests.

Three different locations.

Three separate moments.

And each time we made eye contact.

Looking back now, I recognize that those were difficult seasons in my life. I was struggling with

addiction and making destructive decisions.

But those moments felt like reminders.

Even when I felt lost, God was still present.

Those familiar faces appearing in unfamiliar places became signs that my life was still moving

according to a plan I couldn’t yet see.

During those difficult years I developed my deepest relationship with God.

Sometimes it takes losing everything to realize that God is all we truly have