From the moment she looked me in the eyes and asked, ‘How are things going?” I knew we’d connect.

We had never met before, but known of each other for years. Our moms are distantly friends… I hung out with her sister for a weekend in New York back in my teens… and now here we met, our of the blue, at a teachers conference hours away from both our homes.

It’s nice to know why I came.

After all, driving 5 hours by myself to a destination where I knew nobody, I had plenty of time to question whatever inspired me to do this.

I mean, I knew all along it wasn’t about the conference. I heard this speaker just a year ago, presenting the same topic, with an identical slideshow and handouts.

It was a thinly veiled excuse for a solo road trip, to embrace a love of solitude again – something I’ve avoided for too long.

Being alone doesn’t have to be a negative thing, and I know that, but sometimes we need to conquer our fears in an exciting way.

So, I planned this trip as a way to intentionally create solitude – not being lonely, but having time alone with God.

So often, when I’m alone is when hard things get harder. Problems seem greater, and tears flow freer because it feels like I’m alone in my pain.

To avoid those feelings, for too long I tended to avoid being alone.

But I knew it’s time to reshape my view of that, and I’m so grateful God provided this teachers conference as a reason for this trip – not only did He give me the opportunity, He gave me a valid explanation.

No one expects to hear “I’m driving 5 hours to practice enjoying solitude.” But attending a conference? That sounds sensible. And I do love bits of sensibility in a chaotic world!

But as I got closer to my destination, I realized I had a slight flaw in my weekend.

The solitude was going great, I was embracing my independence, and loving the fact that only God knew exactly where on the globe I was at any given moment.

But I had this slight problem of a conference to attend, where I knew no one, and the content was all familiar to me.

I did ask God why He prompted me so clearly that I had to be at this conference, if it had no purpose in the trip other than an explanation. That’s an expensive ticket to pay for a simple explanation, you know.

But God has a plan in all things, as I am continually learning. And the first session hadn’t been over long when I met the reason I had come.

Isn’t it amazing how God places people in the right location at the right time, having prepared their hearts in advance to connect?

We were strangers yesterday – tonight we had a sleepover (yes, my hotel room had an extra bed for some reason, and God knew it would be needed!) We connected, heart to heart, and it was worth every hour of lost sleep.

My life has been a desert, thirsty for this type of friend, and God brought me here to water that need.

Even if we don’t meet up again for awhile, I will always value the miraculous way God arranged our meeting.

When He wants people in my life, He will place me where I need to be to find them.

And if I needed to be five hours away from home for that message to be clear to me, all I can say is – it was certainly worth the drive.