Yesterday, I wrote about the need to pray for our judges. Later that same day, I had an encounter on a trail in the forest, which was a confirmation of the word I wrote.

For the last 23 years, I have always wondered where a particular trail went. I always assumed it crossed private property, so I avoided further exploration because I did not want to disturb the property owners.

During my hike, I saw a man walking in the distance down that very trail. I wanted to stop and ask him where the road led, but we were separated, hiking on different trails. I assumed that crossing paths wouldn’t happen. As I came to the bottom of the hill where I was hiking, our paths crossed, this time on the same trail we now shared.

I struck up a conversation with the man, and during our conversation, I asked him about the trail in question. He told me he had lived in the area for 25 years and recently discovered the connecting trail himself. I responded that I had lived here for 23 years and had the same issue. He told me how to find the trail, and then we parted ways. I planned to explore the connecting trail someday on a future hike.

As I completed my loop on the trail I was hiking, I came out of a forest enclosure onto a different trail where we once again bumped into each other. He was walking up the trail I wanted to explore, so we hiked together.

On our hike, we exchanged names and some personal information, including what we did for a living. When I asked, “What do you do?” He responded, “I’m a judge.” I was stunned because just that morning, I had written the blog article about how we should pray for our judges. After the man said, “I am a judge”, he added, “We need prayer.”

On occasion, the Lord will confirm what He tells us, like He did for me, arranging an actual meeting with a real judge. That confirmation reinforced for me the importance of what the Lord said to me. We can ignore or even dismiss these confirmations, assigning them to chance and losing the importance of a word that will impact our lives, our faith, and our nation.

After a few more steps, we parted ways and wished each other well. I spent the remaining time on my hike back home praying for the judge I met and for other judges in America who will make decisions that will affect our lives. Without just courts, our nation will descend into lawlessness.

As a result of what I experienced on a forest trail when I met the judge, my faith in God was strengthened. The Lord will faithfully provide these kinds of unexpected connections and confirmations that will affirm what He spoke is something to seriously consider and obey because ignoring it can produce unexpected negative consequences.