Welcome to the daily chizuk (encouragement). A person has to believe that Hashem is watching over and is actively involved with everything that goes on in our lives. The Pasuk (verse) in Iyov says that Hashem's eyes are upon man's ways and He sees all of his footsteps. Not only does Hashem see, but Hashem is actively involved. There's another Pasuk in Iyov that says that Hashem is counting every one of our footsteps. Everything is so precise. You don't take one extra step in life that you weren't supposed to. But Hashem is so unbelievable. He makes everything seem natural, and it appears that things just happen haphazardly. Hashem gives man free will to decide. Are you going to look for the Yad Hashem (the hand of Hashem) in your life, or are you going to say it's just a coincidence? Interestingly, the word in Hebrew that means coincidence or happenstance is Mikreh, which, if you unscramble the letters, also spells Rak me'Hashem. It's all from Hashem. Those who see through the mask of nature are Zocheh (privileged) to see Hashem actively involved with them on a daily basis.
A woman recently emailed me that when she had her first daughter 20 years ago, she called the doctor to say she was ready to go to the hospital. The doctor, who lived in her city, offered to take her and her husband to the hospital, something he had never done in his entire career. He wanted to go to the gas station, but some unexplainable impulse directed him to their house first. As the woman left her front door, the baby was ready to come out right there, and the doctor was right there for a smooth delivery. The doctor kept saying, “Look at the Hashgacha Pratit (Divine Providence), look at the Hashgacha Pratit,” and he said he wasn't even supposed to be home when the woman called, but his plans unexpectedly changed, and now we know why they changed. It's so comforting to know that the Borei Olam (Creator of the world) is looking out for us all the time. We're never alone, and everything is always happening for our benefit. Nothing can happen to you if Hashem doesn't want it to.
This past week, at about 11.40 in the morning on Thursday, I was in shul (synagogue) preparing for a class when I realized I had forgotten a certain book at my house that would help me. I rarely call my wife at that hour, but there was something from that book that I really wanted, so I called and asked if she could read something out of the book for me. She said she was on an errand and was actually planning to take the children to the park, but she wasn't so far from the house. She would stop home and get me the book. I got a phone call from her ten minutes later, and I hear a lot of noise in the background. It seemed like there were policemen there. There was a lot of action. I said, “What happened?” She said that when she went into the house to get the book, there was a man in the dining room trying to rob us. He had black gloves on, a hat, and a bag with our Menorah (candelabrum) in it. But Baruch Hashem, he got scared, dropped the bag, and ran out the side of the house. Nothing was taken from the house, and everybody was okay, Baruch Hashem. It appeared to be an accident that I forgot my book that day, but Hashem was protecting us from being robbed. There are no accidents in life, and there are no coincidences in life. Everything is rak me'Hashem. Have a great day.