GOD WINKS

Preface:  I am a Christian and this will be a Christian post.  If you are not a Christian, I really wish you would read it anyway.  Good food for thought.

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Do you know what a GOD WINK is?  The phrase was coined by Squire Rushnell in his book WHEN GOD WINKS:  HOW THE POWER OF COINCIDENCE GUIDES YOUR LIFE (1) The Godwink Series.

You can buy it on Amazon.

Here is the definition:  An event or personal experience, often identified as coincidence, so astonishing that it is seen as a sign of divine intervention, especially when perceived as the answer to a prayer.

 My personal definition would be something like this:  a personal experience that when it happens to you, you just know it was God.  I have believed in GOD WINKS for quite awhile.  They probably happen everyday but sadly myself and others often just don’t take the time to recognize them.  But then there are times when something happens, and I know without a doubt God showed up and showed out:)

Here is an example of a recent GOD WINK for me.  I was really feeling very down…all this Covid running rampant, the violence & hatred my country is experiencing, and some personal problems of friends and family. I woke up that morning feeling a heavy load on my shoulders and in my heart.  I set out for my morning walk, praying as I went, and all of a sudden a little bunny just hopped out of the bushes and sat on the side of the road watching me.  (We live in a neighborhood and don’t often see bunnies!)  Now this may not seem like anything to you, but I have a “real thing” for bunnies.  My daughter-in-heaven loved and collected bunny rabbits, and since she left this earth I can never see a bunny without feeling her presence.  That morning I just stopped and actually talked to that sweet animal, and in my heart I felt God had sent it to let me know He was with me….GOD WINK😉

I could write about many other GOD WINK moments I have had, but today I want to write about my most recent encounter.  To preface my story, let me say that in all that’s been going on I have felt helpless.  I am a “fixer”…when something goes wrong my gears engage and I go into FIX-IT MODE.  (Sometimes I succeed, but often I’m not a very good repairman repairwoman.)  Needless to say, I haven’t been able to fix anything that’s going on in our world. (Remember this.) All I’ve known to do is PRAY…and believe me!  I have PRAYED & PRAYED & PRAYED!.   (But I digress!)

 

I walk most mornings and I “try” to get out early before the heat sets in.  However, lately I’ve been getting late starts (lingering a little too long over morning coffee!)  But yesterday, for some reason, I was up and out the door earlier. (Remember this!)

As I walk I always pray, and on Wednesdays I spend a little extra time praying for myself (but that’s a story for another day).  One of the things I spoke to God about yesterday was how helpless I feel; I want to make things better, but I can’t.  So I asked Him to show me how I can help, show me what I can do.  When I arrived back home, I noticed the recent storm had blown lots of sticks down in our yard, so I got the golf cart and went to work.  Then I noticed my neighbor’s yard had quite a few also, so I drove over and got those sticks too.  I then drove to a back corner of the neighborhood where we all put out yard clippings, limbs, and stuff for the city truck to (eventually) pick up.  (Be patient with me…I’m getting there.)

 

As I was driving my cart back home I noticed a young black male walking down the adjacent street with a bookbag on his back.  The high school is down that (long) street and around the corner, and since I know everyone who lives on that street I knew he had to have already walked a long way.  As I watched him walk by, all of a sudden I heard this inner voice say, “Go pick him up & take him to school.”  However, that thought barely passed through my mind, when another thought barreled in…”You don’t know that boy and he doesn’t know you and you will probably make him feel uncomfortable if you ask him if he wants a ride.”  Sooooo….I proceeded to drive the cart to my backyard.  But not 5 seconds later that inner voice jumped in again and said, “Cheryl, go get that boy!”  You, of course, know what I had to do!

I caught up with this young man and we shared “Good Mornings”; then I asked if he would like me to give him a ride to school on my cart.  Since he looked a little hesitant, I quickly said, “I live right over there, I’m a retired teacher, and I promise I’m safe.  I will be happy to give you a ride if you like.”  The young man smiled and said “yes, mam” (he got a Brownie point for having good southern manners:)  As we began to talk, I learned he was a senior this year and I congratulated him on that.  He asked what grade I taught and I explained.  All the way down the street we had a wonderful conversation; so much so, I was sorry to have it end.  I carried him to the end of the street and let him off to go the short distance left. 

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But there’s one more part to this GOD WINK story….as I was picking up this student, a white pickup passed us and at the moment it didn’t register that it was actually my two grandchildren on their way to school.  But right then I got a text message.  I looked down to read it…it was from my granddaughter and it said, “you were so nice to pick up that boy.”  (Remember this.)

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I drove back home with a smile on my face and a warm, fuzzy feeling in my heart.  And I knew without a doubt I had just experienced an encounter with God…let me explain.......

Remember, I had prayed earlier that I felt so helpless.  I also asked God to show me if there were ways I could help.  I think God answered my prayer!  You see, I have no doubts that God put all this in place for me.  Remember those things I told you to remember???

 

1st:  God got me up and out earlier than I have been getting out.

2nd:  He put that young man on the road walking at just the right moment.

3rd:  God put on my heart the need to pick up all those sticks (because if I hadn’t I would have gone straight in the house on my arrival home and never seen the boy.)

4th:  God put that “still small voice” inside me…he put it there twice in order to push out the negative voice that was also speaking to me (bet I know who that was!)

5th:  He gave me the gumption to go to a stranger and this boy the gumption to trust a stranger.

6th:  And the icing on the cake…God allowed this situation to be a learning experience (hopefully) for my grandchildren.

 

Yep!  God showed up and showed out!  He answered my prayer of helplessness.  He showed me that there are things I can do to help, even though they may be small and even though they don’t remedy all the hurtful things going on right now.  Hopefully this “African American young man” will understand that an “old white lady” cared enough for him (no matter that our skin was of different colors) to help him out and hopefully somehow maybe it will spur him to do a random act of kindness for someone else.  We never know when we might plant a seed.  “What the world needs now is love sweet love, that’s the only thing that there’s just too little of.”  Let the love begin with each of us. 

 

I know God is all around me all the time and I know He hears all my prayers, but I just love it when GOD WINKS and my heart and mind are open to see those special moments.

Let’s all watch more carefully for the GOD WINKS in our lives.  They’re there…we just need to open our eyes…and our hearts.

 

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Since this blog is often my journal, this part is just something for me.

One of my former students died yesterday.  She had many major medical issues and then she got Covid and died.  I taught Rebecca in 1988/89 in one of my all-time best second grade classes.  Rebecca never married nor had children but always wanted them.  She was an old soul in a young body, and I loved her dearly.  We have kept up with each other through the years.  I have lost two of my “babies” in this same class now, and my heart is just broken.  So much potential for such young lives to be lost.  Rebecca had been suffering for awhile, so I am thankful to God that she is now at peace and in no pain.  I love you, Rebecca, and will remember you always.  (P.S., I won’t be surprised if I see you jumping through the stars and laughing all the way!)     Out of my sight, but always in my heart.

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Now a housekeeping issue:  My basically new laptop is a lemon.  Tech support via phone has not helped so now it’s got to be sent off to “hopefully” be repaired because they won’t give me a new one without extra money.  Note to Self:  NEVER BUY ANOTHER DELL LAPTOP…shoulda read lots of reviews first!

Anywho…this will probably be my last blog post for awhile.  Hopefully the laptop will come back having been resurrected and hopefully I won’t lose my mind without it (or what's left of it!)

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Hug your family close and call or write those you can't hug.  We never know what tomorrow might bring.  May God bless the United States of America and all its people.  And may those who don't know Christ as their savior ask Him to come live in their hearts...then they can hear that still small voice too:)