"God Winks"--coincidence or not, neat stuff

[Chris in VA]

As people of faith, several of my friends and I call those times when we feel God sort of "shows up" in our lives in little, neato-keeno ways, "God Winks" or "God Sightings."

Would you like to share your recent ones?

 

Here's one from Christmas from our family--

 

My kids don't really buy each other gifts for birthdays and Christmas. Once in a while, they do, but it's not a given. Now, dd made something for everyone in the family this year, and ds19 had money, so he bought stuff for us, too--

But ds21 had NO money, not even enough to put some on his phone card and make a phone call to me to tell me when to pick him up at college for vacation!

 

He came home, and found a couple of dollars in his dresser, so he decided to get some candy at the Dollar Store for his siblings for Christmas. This is a real rarity, and a big deal--I can't really stress that enough.

 

So, I see him in his bedroom, and he asks if I'll wrap the candy he bought--no prob, I'm on my way to finish wrapping my own gifts. Then he says, "Look at the change I got from the Dollar Store."

 

He holds out 3 quarters.

 

"Oh, they're the new ones," I say. "Neat!"

 

"No, look at the years on them," he replies.

 

"Oh, 2000--are they all in sequence? 2000, 2001, 2002?" I guess.

 

"NO, Mom. LOOK at them."

 

I finally shut up and LOOK.

 

The years on the quarters he received for change are

2000--The year dd was born.

1991--The year ds19 was born.

1989--The year ds21 was born.

 

God Wink! I told him I felt God honored him for his decision to spend his $ on his sibs--for his kindness and unselfishness.

 

Not a sermon, just a God Wink!!;):D

[Sasharowan]

Dh wanted a bread maker for Christmas and since Walmart and Target don't carry them, I decided to stop in at the Catholic thrift store and see if they had one. Just days before, my friend with the sick dh asked if we knew of any wheelchairs for free or cheap for her dh. While in the store, right next to the breadmaker, was a wheelchair for $25, well inside my budget for impulse buys at Christmas time (not necessarily other times). I was able to buy both and gift my friend with the wheelchair. And the breadmaker turned out to be missing paddles so I was drawn in there solely for the chair.

[elegantlion]

Chris, what an awesome story. :grouphug:

[MeaganS]

My husband just started medical school, and before we moved to the city we're in now, we had to find a place to live. We are living on an incredibly small monthly allowance (about what they usually allot to a single student for a family of 4). I really, really wanted to rent a house rather than apartment. I was sick of sharing walls and wanted a yard for my daughters. I found a house that wasn't perfect, but was ok. It was rather close to campus. For some reason, though, when we got the lease we took a few days to sign it. On the day we had decided to sign it (and I'd been looking for several months), I checked craigslist and found a 3 bedroom house only 2 blocks from campus. There were no pictures, but on a whim, I emailed them and they sent me several of the house. It was about twice as big as the other one, and the rooms were better sized (2 big ones and one little one, perfect for an office and the big children's room was perfect for them to share, which was our plan). It was also $50/month cheaper than the first. I drove the 8 hour round trip the next day to go see it. Everything worked out perfectly and we signed on the new house 2 days later. What a blessing this house has been! We love it and it is very comfortable. While I could have made do with the other one, I feel like this one was a gift from God. Even our landlords are the best!

 

I definitely think that God sends us little unimportant blessings sometimes just to remind us He's there and cares about us, however trivial things are. I am very thankful for His tender mercies!

[Cinder]

Here's my story. Dh had been out of work for about a year. He'd been taking whatever he could find work-wise and even exploring a couple of possible new career options during this time. But nothing was quite working out. One day I was driving home from the store and praying about our situation. I looked up ahead and in a clear blue sky I saw a rainbow. But not just a regular rainbow--it was in the shape of an exclamation point. Not a sideways exclamation point, as in the shape of a normal rainbow. But a straight up-and-down exclamation point with the line and the dot. Did I mention it was an otherwise clear blue sky? I just got an overwhelming sense of peace and started crying. I felt God was reminding me he was still there and things would be ok.

[Chris in VA]

These are so neat! Thanks for sharing!

Anyone else?:001_smile:

[RoughCollie]

DD's boyfriend is from a very poor family. He invited her to the Christmas dance, and we found out he didn't have anything he considered to be appropriate to wear. He was upset about this, I could tell.

 

DH and I went to the Salvation Army. DH found one suit that looked like it would fit the boyfriend. It was $25. When we went to the front of the store to pay for it, there was a big sign about a 50% senior discount. I told DH to ask if he was old enough. He was, and we bought the suit for $12.50.

 

That afternoon, when the boyfriend came over, he tried it on. The suit fit so perfectly, it looked like it had been tailored to fit him. He was delighted with it.

 

DH and I thought God took care of the problem -- it was just too coincidental that there was only one appropriate suit there, and it happened to fit DD's boyfriend. The discount was the icing on the cake.

[OHGrandma]

My husband had a heart attack 2 weeks before Christmas, cutting short the time I had for Christmas preparation. I had almost all the Christmas shopping done, but I was still looking for something additional for the grandson we are raising. He is 11 and has stepped up to do additional chores on the farm while grandpa is recovering.

On Wednesday before Christmas I worked from home a couple hours, stopped to load cattle, then went into work. My boss had emailed just after I logged off, saying I should just finish the day at home, so I went into the office. When leaving the office, I noticed a bag of clothing I'd had in the car to drop off at Goodwill, but hadn't had the time. I decided to do it that day. When I drove up to the store I felt strongly that I needed to go in, there was something I needed to buy in there. I didn't really have the time but I don't argue with strong feelings like that one.

I went in and started going through the aisles. I found a farm toy, it was the wrong scale for grandsons models, but perfect for a nephew's 3 year old boy. I got it, but kept looking because I knew there was something else I was supposed to buy. The next couple aisles were kitchen items but I looked anyway. I spotted a mock leather case and investigated. It was a music stand! Grandson wanted and needed a music stand! I pulled it out to make sure it was complete and in good condition. There was a piece of tape on it with the previous owners name & high school. It was my bosses daughters! This was my purchase, so I headed to the checkout.

At the checkout I inquired if they could tell when it came in, it had just come in that week!

 

When I told my boss I also asked if they had any other music items. He said, "no, all the other music items had been cleared out some time ago; that piece had been missed on prior trips."

[Georgiana Daniels]

Last week I overhead my 5 year old talking to Mary in our Nativity set. She held Mary and said in a gentle, somber voice, "He's going to grow up and die for our sins."

 

It about brought tears to my eyes, and it was such a reminder from the Lord that we are, indeed, on the right track.

[Kathleen in VA]

These are all such precious stories. I teared up about the wheelchair - that sort of thing has happened to me on many occasions.

 

I definitely think that God sends us little unimportant blessings sometimes just to remind us He's there and cares about us, however trivial things are. I am very thankful for His tender mercies!

 

This is so very, very true. I think he's trying to remind us too, that this is not our real home. Oftentimes we are brought very low by devastating events. Like Job, we wonder where God is and why He is doing what He is doing (or allowing it to happen). We can't see the big picture and so we are tempted to shake our fist at Him not realizing that He still has us in the palm of His hand and is still taking care of us. These "winks" are His way of communicating His love - His particular love for us. So many times I think God is way too busy to care about what I think of as tiny, insignificant details in my life. But God is so much bigger than my puny mind can comprehend. He really can attend to each one of us as if we were the only person on the planet. He is a good and merciful God.

 

I don't have any recent experiences but there have been many of these kinds of occurrences throughout my life. One in particular stands out and I bring it mind whenever I'm tempted to question the goodness of God. It is small and seemingly unimportant, but in a way, that is what makes it all the more amazing.

 

I was getting ready to come home from college the first semester of my senior year. My ride was going to pick me up at 7pm in my dorm parking lot. It was late afternoon and I had a pile of dirty laundry. I decided to go ahead and wash it instead of taking it home (my mom lived in an apartment with the laundry in the basement and I really didn't want to have to do that).

 

After I figured the washing machine had finished its cycle I hunted around for a dime for the dryer. Aacckk!! I had no dimes - no money at all. I checked my suitemate's dresser where she kept a little dish filled with coins figuring I'd pay her back - the dish was empty. I knocked on my neighbors' door to borrow a dime but neither one was there. Everyone was out of the dorm studying for finals (mine had ended earlier than most).

 

I prayed a very faithless prayer in my head - something like, "God, what am I going to do? Help!" I decided to go on down to the dorm basement to see if anyone was there who could help me out. Nope. Empty. Just then a man walked in the room - I lived in a very strict dorm - no guys allowed during the week and this was Wednesday. I imagined the headline "Co-ed murdered in dorm laundry room." I held my breath as he approached the machines.

 

Then he took out a large key ring, placed one of the keys in the coin receptacle of one of the washers, pulled it out and dumped the coins into a canvas bag. I sighed with relief. He was just collecting the money! I had already moved my clothes from the washer to the dryer hoping someone would come in whom I could borrow a dime from and I was just standing there next to it trying to remain calm. The man reached my dryer, emptied the coin box and put it back in the dryer. Then he said, "Are you going to use this dryer?" I nodded. He took a dime out of the canvas bag and deposited it in the coin slot and said, "There now, here's one on the house."

 

I know it seems so insignificant - but that dime in the dryer has gotten me through many times of near despair. If He cares about one silly little dime, then certainly He is able to sustain me through much more.

[OnTheBrink]

We were living in a tiny town in MO and were renting a horrid house. It was infested with roaches, which we didn't know until we were unloading the truck. We stayed there the duration of our lease (the landlords paid for extermination), then started looking for a new place to rent. We'd asked our Sunday school class to pray with us that we'd find a house with these specifications:

 

Near EX's work

3 bedrooms

central heat and cooling

garage

affordable

Not a dump.

 

People literally laughed at us; told us we'd never find that in this tiny town.

 

Two weeks later, someone came into the school district office with a notice for the bulletin board. A 3 br house was for rent. EX copied the number and asked me to find out the details. We drove by and it looked pretty nice, but had no garage. We called the man, anyway and went to look at it. He said, "That room at the end is really a garage. I just sided over the door to make it a room for the previous tenent's dogs. If you want a garage, I'll cut the siding off, finish the edges and lower the garage door!" The house also had every other specification we'd wanted. I think God winked at us and went :001_tt2: at the Sunday school class of little faith!

 

OH, and the rent was a little more than what we were paying for the Roach Hotel, but because it was less than a mile from EX's job, our car insurance plummeted. We actually saved money moving there!

[Twinmom]

Long, but I promise it is worth it! ;)

 

After adopting our first two children, our church began a large building project...not one of those expensive, not so needed luxury building projects but rather one that seemed clearly within the will of God for our church. DH had just received an unexpected stock option that would allow us to pledge a significant amount to the building fund, so we prayed about it and committed the money. After adopted two kids, we wouldn't have had that money in straight cash... we just felt that what was in the stock option belonged to God. A month or so later, our DS9, then 18 months, was diagnosed with a genetic disorder, the treatment for which would not be covered by insurance and would eventually run into nearly 6 figures. Then, we got a call from his birth parents, who were pregnant with meth-exposed twins who had a 50% chance of carrying the same disorder (not obvious at birth but by age 12 months). Would we take them given the uncertainty? They knew that given the medical history, the twins would likely be considered "unadoptable" and be raised in the foster system...who can take on that kind of financial burden, especially for two? Certainly not us! Yet, we also knew in our hearts that adopting these full-blood siblings of our 18 month old son was also what God was calling us to do.

 

Just when things seemed to be insurmountable outside of a miracle, they got worse. The stock market took a huge plunge right as we were about to cash out the money for the church, and we were going to be 20K short on our commitment. We'd already given a small amount of stock to the church, but there was no way to recover that 20K. How could we possibly meet all these commitments that we'd made with a. no money, b. looming major medical bills on the way for DS9 and c. possible special needs twins on the way? It seemed that we should back out of both the adoption and the financial commitment to the church, but we felt God calling us to stand firm in faith and wait for Him to solve the problem.

 

The week that the twins were born, God did just that! We heard from our accountant, our adoption agency and our pastor with a series of amazing bits of news! The twins' adoption would be considered such a significant case of special needs that we would receive the maximum amount of tax allowance for their adoption. Under the circumstances, the adoption agency agreed to defer their fee until that tax credit came in...almost a full year from placement (unheard of, if you know adoption!)...and to charge only the amount of the tax credit for the placements. Our pastor agreed that we were called to adopt these twins and that the call to do so was "building" God's church with people rather than brick and mortar...a call that came before any building fund. He graciously excused us from our commitment (we know we didn't need his permission to back out, but his understanding was worth its weight in gold).

 

Guess what the tax credit amount came to? Exactly 20K...precisely the amount of our missing pledge. God had truly called us to both the adoption and to the "building fund" with these two precious babies and gave us the means to do it! Our adoption would have been impossible without this amount of money and the cooperation of both the agency and our church in the process. A real miracle...perhaps more than just a wink! :D Oh, and by the way...by the time the twins were a year old, it was clear that they did not have the expensive genetic disorder! :D Treatment for DS9 and the SPDs of the other three kids can be pricey (meth exposure will to that to you!), but we seem to always have just what we need when the bills come due.

 

God is indeed faithful!

[AnitaMcC]

My story is simple....

 

My Grandmother crocheted blankets for my twins when they were born and for Ds#2 when he was born. Unfortunately my Grandmother died from cancer while I was pregnant with Ds#3. I was sad that Ds#3 wouldn't have a heart made item from his Greatgrandma.

 

The day Ds and I got home from the hospital... a elderly across-the-street-neighbor came over. We have been distant friendly. Meaning saying hi, how are you, waving across the street, admiring each other flower garden, etc. We never really chatted or anything like that. Anyway, she came over... and gave me a chroceted blanket for Ds.

 

What made me know it was God (and my Grandma probably badgering God into making it happen-LOL)... was the neighbor said "For some reason I just had to make this blanket for your baby". She said she started making it not knowing who it was for, other than she had to make it for a baby boy.

[apple]

You all just made me cry. I love every story here. Thanks for sharing.

 

Sumi

[jewellsmommy]

All of these are wonderful. This is our most recent and a big one:

 

I suffer from infertility and we worked hard to get pregnant with dd. We wanted a second child and had been discussing rather we wanted to try again. We have never prevented pregnancy and I had been at the ob's office Oct 18th discussing how I was running out of time due to my endometriosis. I told dh I just did not feel God giving me the energy or blessing to jump through all those hoops to get preg. again, but yet I wanted a 2nd child too. This was perplexing to us. I was also doing some major rearranging/fall cleaning and was cleaning out our "craft/storage/junk room." I had just bought new book cases and was making plans for the new room when we found out about dh's grandmother.

 

My dh was raised mostly by his grandmother and she died Oct. 21. This was hard for dh. He didn't have his dad growing up and his mom has issues. We were responsible for making arrangements and were busy doing so. The house was in chaos as I stopped all my plans to deal with this.

 

The Sun after (Oct 24) a member of our church approached us, and through tears, told us of her great grandson who is 7 and about to be given up from a home he had only been in 1.5 yrs with a guardian that was unrelated. This was little boy's 3rd home in 3 yrs since being removed from mom. His 3 siblings were also spread out but stable where they were. The guardian was going to court on Nov 8th to surrender him and he knew nothing about it. Great-Grandma was physically unable to take him and asked dh and I to consider taking guardianship. We were in shock. We were making funeral plans and now had 2 wks to decide on this.

 

Well, here was our 2nd child but was it God's will? We started praying and asked God to stop us along the way if it was not his will. I started turning the room that was now empty into a little boy's room. Then we thought God was stopping us at one point because of some of the info. we received about this boy. We actually walked away because we thought there is no way we can handle that. But God brought us back around again, dh and I seperately. The date is now Nov 4th and dh and I confess to each other that we thought God was changing our mind back! We proceeded.

 

So, get this, new ds is ADHD and his IEP teachers had recommended that he be homeschooled and he desperately wanted that but the current guardian couldn't/wouldn't do it!

 

The court date was bizarre and confusing for the judge and us because of all involved but we brought him home!

 

New Ds had a very unusual name that he hated and had always wanted it changed if he was ever adopted. The name he always wanted was the first name on our boy name list if dd had been a boy! (Seriously, we even had this co-berated by his gg and not just some whim) He is not adopted yet, but we told him he could go by his new name if he wanted and he has been introduced as that. This has made him very happy. We are still in all the legal process but I have such a peace that God will continue to take care of it. The icing was that the little amt of money leftover from dh's grandmother's passing was enough to buy a bed, dresser, and pay some court filing fees exactly! It is so fitting seeing as she took in dh when there was no place else for him and now she helped provide that for another little boy.ha It has been so hard, but I am grateful that we tried to "walk away" and then came back around because that has reassured us that this was God's doing and not ours.

 

The timeline fell into place so perfectly. There is just no way it could have happened without God. And, those new bookcases look perfect in my dining room ;). God always knows best.

Edited December 28, 2010 by jewellsmommy

[AnitaMcC]

The timeline fell into place so perfectly. There is just no way it could have happened without God. And, those new bookcases look perfect in my dining room ;). God always knows better.

 

 

This is so awesome!!!! It is so nice when things just fall together (even if it goes on a round about path).

[Miss Peregrine]

Two Septembers ago I was at the soccer field with my kids. My friend's daughter played on the same team as mine and she had her 18 month old with her. We were talking about how we had just finished all of our certification to become foster parents.

While we were talking, her son ran onto the field during the game and into the goal box! We laughed and she ran to scoop him up. When she got back I said, "I want a little boy that will run into the goal box during a game." It was just so funny and cute and I was longing for another one to add to our family.

 

A year went by and this conversation forgotten until this September. Same dd's game, same friend and I talking. I wasn't paying attention until another mom called my name. There was my foster son in the goal box! It was like everything froze and I was in a tunnel as the memory of my words came rushing toward me. Immediately, tears flooded my eyes as I ran to scoop him up out of the goal box.

 

I love when God is the author or such things!

[amyrjoy]

Chris, that is a sweet, sweet memory!

[amyrjoy]

Wow! What a blessing!

 

Two Septembers ago I was at the soccer field with my kids. My friend's daughter played on the same team as mine and she had her 18 month old with her. We were talking about how we had just finished all of our certification to become foster parents.

While we were talking, her son ran onto the field during the game and into the goal box! We laughed and she ran to scoop him up. When she got back I said, "I want a little boy that will run into the goal box during a game." It was just so funny and cute and I was longing for another one to add to our family.

 

A year went by and this conversation forgotten until this September. Same dd's game, same friend and I talking. I wasn't paying attention until another mom called my name. There was my foster son in the goal box! It was like everything froze and I was in a tunnel as the memory of my words came rushing toward me. Immediately, tears flooded my eyes as I ran to scoop him up out of the goal box.

 

I love when God is the author or such things!

[King Alfred Academy]

What a neat story! I believe in God Winks! Happens to us too!

 

For instance:

 

We moved into an apartment that had a fireplace. We didn't have any fireplace tools to tend to the fire but we didn't have any money to buy any either. I went out to check the mail the next morning and there were some fireplace tools just sitting there. I looked around a little freaked out, shrugged my shoulders and thanked God for the provision!

 

Also, just this month, we were looking into getting a larger monitor for our computer. We don't have a tv so we use our computer to watch movies and our monitor is 19 inches. After looking, we decided that was not the best use of our limited money. A few days later, my dh went over to his friend's house and his friend asked him if we wanted his 26 inch monitor to use since he just bought a new one. Crazy, huh!?

 

And finally...we got into a pretty bad car accident on the 12th this month. Our only car was totaled and we were taken to the ER by ambulance. Just after we were brought in, a child in the room next to me was not "responsive" and needed to be transported right away to another hospital. Because we were brought in, the ambulance was already there and ready to take the child. We had also just decided to sell our car, and now that it is totaled, we don't have to mess with trying to sell it!

 

People can say it's just "coincidence", but I don't believe it is! :001_smile:

[Miss Peregrine]

These are all such precious stories. I teared up about the wheelchair - that sort of thing has happened to me on many occasions.

 

 

 

This is so very, very true. I think he's trying to remind us too, that this is not our real home. Oftentimes we are brought very low by devastating events. Like Job, we wonder where God is and why He is doing what He is doing (or allowing it to happen). We can't see the big picture and so we are tempted to shake our fist at Him not realizing that He still has us in the palm of His hand and is still taking care of us. These "winks" are His way of communicating His love - His particular love for us. So many times I think God is way too busy to care about what I think of as tiny, insignificant details in my life. But God is so much bigger than my puny mind can comprehend. He really can attend to each one of us as if we were the only person on the planet. He is a good and merciful God.

 

I don't have any recent experiences but there have been many of these kinds of occurrences throughout my life. One in particular stands out and I bring it mind whenever I'm tempted to question the goodness of God. It is small and seemingly unimportant, but in a way, that is what makes it all the more amazing.

 

I was getting ready to come home from college the first semester of my senior year. My ride was going to pick me up at 7pm in my dorm parking lot. It was late afternoon and I had a pile of dirty laundry. I decided to go ahead and wash it instead of taking it home (my mom lived in an apartment with the laundry in the basement and I really didn't want to have to do that).

 

After I figured the washing machine had finished its cycle I hunted around for a dime for the dryer. Aacckk!! I had no dimes - no money at all. I checked my suitemate's dresser where she kept a little dish filled with coins figuring I'd pay her back - the dish was empty. I knocked on my neighbors' door to borrow a dime but neither one was there. Everyone was out of the dorm studying for finals (mine had ended earlier than most).

 

I prayed a very faithless prayer in my head - something like, "God, what am I going to do? Help!" I decided to go on down to the dorm basement to see if anyone was there who could help me out. Nope. Empty. Just then a man walked in the room - I lived in a very strict dorm - no guys allowed during the week and this was Wednesday. I imagined the headline "Co-ed murdered in dorm laundry room." I held my breath as he approached the machines.

 

Then he took out a large key ring, placed one of the keys in the coin receptacle of one of the washers, pulled it out and dumped the coins into a canvas bag. I sighed with relief. He was just collecting the money! I had already moved my clothes from the washer to the dryer hoping someone would come in whom I could borrow a dime from and I was just standing there next to it trying to remain calm. The man reached my dryer, emptied the coin box and put it back in the dryer. Then he said, "Are you going to use this dryer?" I nodded. He took a dime out of the canvas bag and deposited it in the coin slot and said, "There now, here's one on the house."

 

I know it seems so insignificant - but that dime in the dryer has gotten me through many times of near despair. If He cares about one silly little dime, then certainly He is able to sustain me through much more.

 

This makes my day. :)