For me, it was a girl on my college campus right after I’d moved to Miami with my father. It was dark out and I was waiting for my last class of the day to start, when she walked up and started talking to me.

She asked me what I was majoring in, and a couple other casual college conversation topics. Then she suddenly asked if I believe in god. So me, figuring I’m about to get a “convert to this religion” speech from a very sly missionary, pull out my crucifix necklace and show her (I was raised Catholic but I’m not currently practicing) to see if she’d leave me alone and not give me the speech. But instead she said “I saw you sitting there and I got the feeling that God wanted me to talk to you. Is everything okay between you and your mother right now?”

That was the part that got me and is the reason I still think about her. I hadn’t mentioned my parents at all, and for the past few years I’d had strained relations with my mother after she and my father divorced. This girl knew that somehow, and I don’t know how. I didn’t hint at it at all when we were talking before. So she asked if she could pray for my mother, and I assumed she’d meant at home in her own time so I said yes. She grabbed my hands and started praying with me right there. She asked for my number, and I gave her a fake number because I didn’t know what to do. I kinda regret that because I haven’t seen her since, and it’s been years now. I really wish I’d followed up on that because I’m still confused to this day.