This morning my adorable three-year-old grandson Facetimed me. “Grammy, did you know that yesterday was Daddy’s birthday?”

“Why, yes, I did.”

“But it was also _____’s birthday!”

“Wow! That’s an amazing coincidence.” Once I’d explained what that word means, we went on to talk of other important matters, like us needing to buy red macaroni at Trader Joe’s. He’s a clever little guy, and I love to see how he’s growing up protected by the Lord and surrounded by love.

But he got me thinking about coincidences in my life. A big one happened yesterday (Wednesday). For the past month or so I’ve been working on a new book with my mother, which I will probably call Unforgivable. It will be my part-Jewish father Frits’s story, as he grew up in the occupied Netherlands, a kind-of sequel (or co-quel) to my mother’s story as told in Brave Face.

The problem is that Dad passed over five years ago, so I can’t ask him for clarification and additional details. All my questions came to a head on Tuesday, and I put out a plea on Facebook, Twitter, phoned my siblings, and had a pretty sleepless night. People tried to help, but they really couldn’t. I began to wonder how I could possibly write a book with so much of the information still missing.

On Wednesday morning, I was sitting at a local coffee bar waiting to meet with a new friend from church and scrolling through my phone (as you do). A ping alerted me to an incoming email. It was from my cousin Cilia, who I’ve only seen twice in my LIFE. A few days ago, in a spur of the moment decision, I wrote to her and her brother about the book I was starting. Just a couple paragraphs. In response, she sent me the reminiscences that her father, my Oom Jan, wrote when he was 84, not long before he passed!

This fifteen-page document outlines his life from birth to early 20’s and contains answers to ALL the questions I had. Moreover, it gives insights into my father’s (and his) early life that I couldn’t have obtained any other way. It is gold. And, honestly, I am taking it as a sign that, yes, the Lord is in favor of me writing this book. I don’t think it’s a coincidence. It’s a God-incidence.

Now, some of you may be rather skeptical about that and wonder how could a scientist believe such an outlandish thing. I’ll tell you. This is not the first remarkable coincidence that has happened in my life. It’s not even the tenth. I don’t know if it’s the hundredth, because they happen all the time. Therefore…

Logic dictates that I consider whether a coincidence might be a God-incidence.

Archbishop William Temple said, “When I pray, coincidences happen and when I don’t, they don’t.” I agree with the first part of this quote, but not the second—because God is merciful. He sees what we need before we even know. He is always working, whether we pray or not. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” Ro 8:28 That’s why I’m looking forward to spotting the next God-incidence in my life, and I’m confident that such a thing will happen.