Divine Encounters

What if every person you meet, every fleeting moment, every heartbreak, every kindness, is not random at all but divine?In this powerful conversation, Walt and Joel pull back the curtain on what they call divine encounters and reveal how the smallest moments can reshape an entire life.Early on, Walt poses the core question behind the whole episode: Are some encounters truly divine, or is every encounter divine if we let it be?Joel answers not with theory, but with stories.Joel shares a lunch-time encounter with an elderly man in recovery for 50 years. At first, Joel admits he was just trying to eat in peace. Then the man says something strange: “I’m not going to fall in the Grand Canyon today because I’m not at the damn Grand Canyon.”It sounds like nonsense until he connects it to relapse: if you don’t want to relapse, don’t go near the edge. Don’t go to the places, people, and situations that pull you toward it.A “random” old man at lunch becomes a spiritual and practical teacher in five minutes.Walt reflects on his own powerful encounter with Joel: an interview in 2012, when Joel was guest number 12 on a brand-new podcast.Walt recalls thinking it was just “one good episode.” Almost a year later, he reached out, unsure Joel would even respond. That one decision turned into a long-term friendship and co-hosting partnership - a life-changing encounter neither could have predicted.How many “one-time” meetings in your own life were actually beginnings in disguise?Joel opens up about one of the most pivotal encounters of his life - when everything had fallen apart. He was homeless, jobless, facing felony charges, and with nowhere to go. He got into his car, turned on the radio, and at that exact moment heard someone talking about a gambling helpline. The number was toll-free, which mattered because he had no money.That call led Joel to Rick, the man who took him in when he was broke and broken - someone who became his business partner and lifelong friend: “That one encounter was the foundation for everything that I have today.”What are the odds he would turn on the radio at that precise moment? Walt calls it exactly what it is: law of attraction in action.Both men talk openly about loss - Walt’s beloved cat, Joel’s son TJ, and friendships that ended without clear explanation. They refuse to sugarcoat trauma, yet they lean into one core idea: You can’t control what happens, but you can learn to shape your response.Walt admits there was a time he laughed at the idea that you could choose your reaction. Now, he sees every encounter as a chance to practice that choice to respond with appreciation instead of fear.Joel describes using gratitude as his emotional reset button: listing what’s right in his life, what didn’t happen “today” that once did - homelessness, jail, devastating loss. Even his “worst days” become part of a larger, divine tapestry.Walt finally asks the question many listeners are thinking: “Have you ever had an encounter that just really wasn’t worthwhile?”Joel’s answer is striking: On the surface, yes. In reality, probably no.He recalls a 12-year-old boy he once casually helped at the gym. Years later, that boy, now a strong young man, approached Joel and said: “You changed my life, I never missed a day in the gym after that.”For Joel, it was a forgettable three-minute interaction. For that boy, it was a turning point.So the real invitation from this conversation is simple and deeply challenging:What if you treated every encounter - every person, every moment, every loss, every kindness - as divine, before you know how the story ends?LOA Today Episode Page: https://www.loatoday.net/divine-encountersFollow the LOA Today podcast: https://www.loatoday.net/follow#loatoday#lawofattraction#manifesting#vibration#podcast#deliberatecreators#Q&A#waltthiessen#joelelston#DivineEncounters #EmotionalHealing #GratitudePractice #Synchronicity #SpiritualGrowth #TraumaAndHealing #LifeLessons