I'd like to share this story from the summer of 1985. At that time I was a student at the University of Nice in France. After spending about four weeks immersed in the French language and culture, and then two weeks traveling around Europe on a Eurorail pass, I was ready to head back home to NL, Canada. My departure date was around mid-August. Of course, that's the height of summer holidays in France and all the hotels in and around the city of Nice were filled to capacity. The situation I was in was that I had moved out of my residence room on campus and had just enjoyed visiting several countries in Europe - from Italy to Ireland. After descending from the TGV train in Nice (I had taken that speedy train from Paris), I proceeeded to look for a hotel room for my last two nights in France. After spending several exhausting hours walking around the city in search of a room, I had almost resigned myself to the fact I might have to sleep on a park bench for the next two days.
Speaking of a park bench, I decided to sit on one for a while, just so I could collect my thoughts and explore my options. Well, the more I thought about it the more I realised my options were few and far between. So at that point I simply closed my eyes and recited the Lord's Prayer. Feeling a new sense of confidence, I crossed the street from the park and walked into a small hotel. I approached the counter and requested a room for the night. But, unfortunately, the response was the same - they had no rooms. I turned around and was about to leave when I was suddenly stopped by this lady. She introduced herself and kindly said she would be glad to offer me a room in her family's home for two nights. Of course, I jumped at the opportunity and accepted her generous offer.
All these years later that pleasant memory is in the forefront of my mind. So is the confidence I have in the power of the Lord's Prayer as a way of creating special "coincidences" in my life.
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