I have expierenced similar reactions/ responses from others
around around me ( especially in my earlier years). If I knew the person ,it would sorta leave me baffled and a gap
in the relationship. It seems also people get a "boost"by
thinking gods on my side or this "trial" will strengthen me.
It always ( as you pointed out )seemed to be lopsided
in the fact that the result did not actually be benifit the person; and the situation had no particular rarity.

I am interested in how many people seem intent on convincing me that my experience is a coincidence. I lead with that assumption. I have never had any belief in Gods.

In any city, there are people from all over the world. You picked up a French accent because you knew French. Had you learned German in HS, you might have heard a German accent. It’s just a coincidence and your ear is tuned to French as is mine. We also get many French-Canadians here in CNY

Framing everything in the context of "God's plan" is a way people have for dealing with the uncertainties of life. The concept that there are things that happen that are out of our control and/or have no rhyme or reason is hard to fathom.

Ohferpetessake, things happen all the time, it Never occurs to me to manufacture some weird celestial intervention. You ever hear the phrase, "Shit happens"?

Every time I've felt confidence, it has been followed by disaster. No, I've learned that there is no plan for me, and confidence breeds misery.

I never think a god, or any type of universal consciousness, plays any kind of a role in anything that happens.

Every day there are a myriad off possibilities; some are more likely to play out than others and some are the least likely--but ALL are within the realm of possibility. We (because of the way our brains evolved and due to our programming) tend to see intent in everything that happens not simple cause an effect; and we tend to see "a plan" or "a miracle," etc when the less, or least, likely possibility plays out.

Imagine if instead of being taught of plans and gods from the time we were little, we were taught probabilities and statistics. If this were the case we would not try to insert some sort of intent when the least likely scenario plays out. We would simply see coincidence and realize that sometimes the extremely rare just happens to be the possibility that plays out.

Never

I instantly repudiate any gawd talk by anyone I have the time to rebuke.... I leave my religious sisters alone and most of the time we are family not faith victims.....I don't waste my time in short cashier lines and most always pay in ca$h with the illegal gibberish gawd sound removed BUT LONG LINES often have tabloids for sale screaming religious gibberish headlines....many times I have said NAZI propaganda like that got 25 million people killed in Europe....gott MIT UNS TrumpOLINI and Pence are Hitler and Goebbels....what a plan, eh ?

There is a famous story in the United Kingdom, which is said to be true, about somebody who was walking down a road in London and passed a public telephone box when the phone inside it rang. She went in, and picked up the handset.

"Hi Claire," said the person making the call, "Are we still meeting up for a coffee on Thursday?"

Claire, the woman who had picked up the phone, recognised the voice as her friend Joanne. "Oh yes, I'm free all day - but how did you know I was here?" Claire asked.

"Well, it's 10am on a Monday, and I know you only work in the afternoon on Mondays," said Joanne.

The phones in British telephone boxes have a number displayed on them, as I imagine is the case in other countries. Claire looked at it, and realised it was almost identical to her home phone number, but for one digit. Joanne had intended to call her at home but mis-dialed the number and rang the phone in the box, just as Claire was walking past.

Whether or not the two women were in fact known by these names or whether or not it took place in London depends on the version of the story you hear, and it seems just a little too remarkable to be true - so, for those reasons, I believe it to be apocryphal. However, strange coincidences do happen; indeed, sometimes they seem just a little too coincidental to be coincidence, and I've long argued that a person wouldn't have to be very mentally ill to see links where there are really none.

Mentally ill / deeply religious... I'm sure I'm not the only person here who feels these two terms are frequently analogous.

I live pretty close to you and work for French company that has a site in Rochester and one in Hornell. It brings over many French and their families so you probably met some of them. So no coincidence, or God, just Alstom building high speed trains for Amtrak in upstate New York with federal and state money and bringing lots of their people to USA to work.

Not really