Since becoming a Christ follower in my late 20s, God has continually shown me His sense of humor. I never planned on becoming a Christian. Those who knew me before, know I was actually quite hostile to the idea and not a fan of those who were religious — in particular, Christians.
That was one of the first ironies: Even though I wanted NOTHING to do with Him (and wasn't even sure He existed), He relentlessly pursued me in a way that was undeniable. Why? Because even when I was running 90 miles an hour in the opposite direction, God still desired an intimate relationship with me — for me to know and be known by Him. And no matter where you are and who you think He is or isn't, He desires the same for you!
Shortly after surrendering my life to Christ, I began telling God, "I love you, and I'm so grateful for what You've done for me. I'll follow You, but just so You know, and we're clear, I'm not going to do ______!" I'd draw a line in the sand, and almost immediately, He'd take me across that line.
One of the ultimatums I gave God was talking to others about Him. No way was I going to be one of those "radical" Christians who walks around talking about God to their friends, or worse, complete strangers!
Within a day or so of making that declaration to God, people (complete strangers) in the oddest of places began walking up to me and talking to me about God. This began to happen over and over again while I was buying groceries, at the computer repair shop ... you name it! I was astounded.
Finally after the third or fourth seemingly random encounter, I began to laugh and just said, "OK God, I hear you!" What I realized is that when it's a "God thing" and He's orchestrating "a divine setup," He'll do the work. We don't have to force it. (If anything, that just pushes people away.) All we have to do is to be open to those divine encounters, (at work, with our neighbors, or even total strangers within the walls of our own churches), and then respond appropriately and lovingly, when prompted.
God is the one who will do the heavily lifting. He's not looking for perfect people with picture-perfect lives, because there are none. He's just looking for hearts that know Him, who are open and willing to being used to reflect Him.
Since then, I've learned to lean in and be open to those sorts of conversations. While at first they were scary and incredibly outside of my comfort zone, I've come to look forward to them. They are part of the twists and turns and the adventure of following God.