Posted on: 2nd July 2026

This phrase often crops up in conversations amongst Christians. It carries with it the notion of very special times when an individual has a profound experience of God’s presence, in worship, or seeing God work in an amazing way. In my teens I used to love hearing remarkable stories of conversions
and the transforming difference it made in a person’s life, even though my Christian experience was unremarkable and made me question at times whether I had actually really encountered God. Since then however, there have been occasions when I could certainly identify an unusual awareness of God and especially His timing in situations. These however are intermittent experiences and for the most part it can seem like I just get on with life without any direct sense of God or his involvement in life.

Two weeks ago I had surgery for a hip replacement, the first major surgery in my life. During my two night stay in hospital I was very grateful for those praying, especially after 2 blood clots were found on my lung, which could have been quite serious if undiscovered. I was conscious too in many short conversations I had with nurses from at least seven different countries, that I encountered God’s care in their care. One of the physiotherapists, who was doing a presentation to 20 other physios in the hospital on the difference faith makes to a patient as they face and experience surgery, interviewed me and said how encouraged he was to be able to share my experience with others. He seemed keen to demonstrate the difference ‘God encounters’ made in patients undergoing procedures.

As I have grown in my faith over the years I have come to a place where I now have a broader view of God encounters. Yes, there are the more spectacular aspects which challenge my faith and cause me to still expect miracles, but at the same time to experience God encounters in every aspect of
life. As I have to slow down, particularly at the present time, if I am open enough then I will encounter God afresh through his image being reflected through others, through the wonderful diversity of nature and communicating through His word.

One of the most profound and unexpected ways that Jesus defined an encountering of God was in the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats.

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you took me in, I needed clothes and you looked after me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me…I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers, you did for me. Matthew 25 v 35-40.

This parable is a two- way encounter, particularly in the context of meeting the needs of others, God encountering us as well as us encountering God.

Most of all we have ‘God encounters’ every time we experience and express the multifaceted dimensions of His love. God is Love- the greatest and most tangible encounter!