God Sightings

Shelley Pearson • Apr 28, 2021
 “Where have you seen God moving this week?” 

Also known as a God Sighting, students at the combined huddle for Mankato East and West High Schools and Gustavus Adolphus and Minnesota State University – Mankato start out each huddle by sharing where they have seen God at work in the past week. Recently, Megan shared about her co-worker whose fiancé was walking alone a few blocks from campus and began having a seizure. She was grateful that some nursing students came upon him and were able to keep him safe and get help.

One of the nursing students was Brooke, a Gustavus gymnast and fellow FCA huddle member. As she was helping the man, she thought about his family and friends - about how hard it would be for them if something serious happened to him, and how much it would mean to them that he came through this unharmed. Because he was on a cement sidewalk by a busy road, he could have been seriously injured, but Brooke was there and able protect his head and stay close.

God Sighting #1 – God led Brooke and her friend to that area at that time and equipped them with the skills they needed to help.

God Sighting #2 – Megan’s co-worker “happened” to share this story with her. Without knowing it, this fiancée was one of the people Brooke was thinking about as she helped her fellow college student. She might have never learned about the impact she made if she and Megan weren’t in the FCA huddle together. 

The huddle was reminded that God is always at work, and sometimes He chooses to reveal what He is doing in special ways. Megan, Brooke, and now the entire huddle got to see a glimpse of what God does every day through ordinary people that He places in extraordinary circumstances without them even knowing it.

Meet Brooke

Brooke Merila is a junior at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota. She hopes to one day be a nurse at Children’s Hospital in the Twin Cities. Brooke has participated in club gymnastics from five years old through high school until she joined the team at Gustavus. Growing up with two brothers has given her an even greater appreciation for the close-knit team of “sisters” that serve as her second family today. 


Brooke has been involved in FCA for a few years and is now part of the virtual combined huddle. Brooke says, “It’s my favorite part of the week. Sometimes I have a meeting that overlaps, and I say, ‘I’m sorry, I have to get to FCA.’ All those people are really amazing. Getting to have those conversations is great. It’s so funny how God will speak through our lessons - sometimes those words work in the most perfect of times.” She also loves, “knowing I have a community that loves and supports me and is willing to help me get through those hard times.” 

Growth through Challenge

Brooke didn’t arrive at that place overnight, but God has continually revealed His faithfulness and brought her closer to Him through life’s circumstances. When she was young, her dad developed a brain tumor and was given only three months to live. He is still alive today. Two years ago, he had another bout with cancer where they had to do invasive surgery in his leg which left uncertainty as to whether he would walk again. But today, he walks. Her brother was once hit by a car and walked away with not even a scratch or a bruise. Brooke recognizes these outcomes as direct blessings from God. 


God has met Brooke time and time again in the difficult circumstances of life. Even through her dad’s cancer, her brother’s near-death experience, and her own struggle with her parents’ divorce, she says today, “I wouldn’t change it.” Of course, Brooke is not happy her parents divorced, or her dad faced cancer, and she would not have chosen to walk through any of those things. But it was through the challenges and difficulty of those life experiences that drew her to the Lord. They revealed His love to her heart, made her more compassionate, and helped her trust more deeply in Jesus. 

Romans 5:3-5 says, “Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” Persevering through difficult times drew Brooke to Him and gave her hope. Today, she brings that hope to others in the FCA huddle and those she meets on the street (sometimes, quite literally, as with the man having a seizure on the sidewalk). She can trust in His plan today because He has shown Himself faithful in the past.


God Reveals Himself

God sightings remind us that God is indeed working every day in large and small ways and in both evident and seemingly invisible ways. They serve to encourage the hearts of those who experience them and remind others to constantly look for where God is working around them. We are thankful for the way God has moved in and through Brooke and the FCA huddle, and we are grateful Brooke was at the right place at the right time to help someone she didn’t know.

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