A God Wink Is Good For The Soul
WordSense defines a God wink as the following: 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.
I have had two God winks in my life that left me stunned. They were both unexpected moments when God was revealing a tiny smidge of what He’s doing in my life. It is that moment when your heart realizes that God is always close by. I think it is His way of getting our attention. You may not be aware of God’s presence, His abiding love, or His plan. You may even be in a season where you feel like God isn’t involved in your life or world. I pray that after reading this, God will give you a wink…as a reminder of how much He cares.
The first God wink involved how I found a beloved letter from my grandmother that was ‘missing’ for over 10 years. It began with a reoccurring dream. A letter that my grandmother (she was known as Nanny to all of her grandchildren)wrote to my son Kyle when he was 15 months old. She handed me her sealed letter and said, “Give this to Kyle when he turns 16.” Nanny passed away months later. I immediately put her precious letter in a safety deposit box at the bank where I kept all my important documents. Then, one day I decided that I didn’t want to pay the yearly safety deposit box fee anymore and took all the contents and put them in a designated drawer in my home.
A few years later we moved and I misplaced Nanny’s ‘love letter’ to my son. I started obsessing over this letter. Then I started dreaming about Nanny’s letter. Where did I put it? I spent days, months, and years thinking about this letter because I had already given up looking for it. I just knew I had lost it and that made me feel like I had let my grandmother down. How could I be so careless? My son was 20 years old and I finally told him about this letter. Kyle knew about Nanny from all the pictures and stories and he also knew how dear she was to me and our entire extended family.
As the years went by, I began to boldly pray about this letter. “Please God lead me to this letter,” I would say. I still don’t exactly know how it happened, but the next thing I know… a fly was in the house. I swatted this pesky fly and assumed it had buzzed off towards the garage. Then hours later, I was in my bedroom closet getting dressed and one fly, two flies, three flies…a swarm of flies were buzzing and circling around my closet window that was high up above my top shelf that sits right below that window. I got a step ladder to prop myself up to the window sill and try to find out where these flies were coming from. As I grabbed hold of the shelf to get a better look, I slipped and a pile of dusty photo albums fell to the ground. As I bent down to pick up the albums, a discolored manilla envelope fell from the shelf and hit me on the head. I hadn’t seen that envelope in years…I froze in disbelief. I opened the faded envelope and there it was…Nanny’s precious letter to my son written almost 20 years ago and I finally found it. I just looked up, through my tears, smiled, and said, “I know that was you, God! Thank you!”
Anyone who knows me knows I do not like bugs (neither did Nanny)…But that day, God was playing a joke on me. I love His humor. He sent those flies so that I would find that letter. There is no other way to explain it. I call it a God’s wink. I first heard this term at a bible study that I still attend regularly. It was not by accident that I found that letter. What brought me to that letter is worth remembering. There is more to coincidence than meets the eye…it was so astonishing because I know that it was a sign of divine intervention, especially when perceived as the answer to my prayers. God sent me a message of encouragement, reassurance, comfort, and peace.
The second God wink I received happened after my grandfather sold their home of 45 years. Nanny had passed away so my grandfather lived alone in their home for a little over one year and then sold it and moved back to the city.
As time passed, my mom, sister, and I took our annual trip to Boston (from Florida) to visit our wonderful relatives that still live in the surrounding area. On one particular day, we headed over to my aunt’s home which happens to be two doors down from where my grandparents used to live.
I had a crazy idea that we should walk over to my grandparents old house, ring the doorbell, and ask to be invited in for a tour. My family thought it would be an imposition, even rude to do such a thing and laughed when I suggested it but I was just so adamant about getting into that house. If you know me, once I set my mind on something I will need to follow it through. So, of course we found ourselves at the front doorstep of my grandparents old house…boom, the rush of emotions hit me like a brick wall. Climbing on ‘the rock’ up on the hill in the backyard, throwing water balloons at the neighbors house (just kidding, I think!), bowling in the kitchen, making prank phone calls in the downstairs den…I could name a million more adventures (or shenanigans) that took place at the home. It was always filled with love, laughter, and lots of yummy Italian food!
The new homeowners were so gracious and allowed all of us to come right on in. They kept apologizing about how messy it was but in my mind I only saw my grandparents furnishings and the way it used to be. The tour was unbelievable and we were all crying happy tears. We felt as though my grandparents were with us in spirit; we could feel their presence. I know it sounds silly, but I said to myself, “If you are here with us then give us a sign.” We headed down the hallway to my grandparents den (the new owners turned it into a nursery for their baby girl) when I stopped in my tracks at the threshold of the door. Over her crib on the wall I see their daughter’s name spelled out with those big monogram pottery barn-type letters…wait, their daughter’s name is the same as my daughter’s name spelled the same exact way (and this name could be spelled several different ways). Ok, that must be a coincidence or not?
So after we shared our story with the owner about how we have daughters with the same name we continued down the hall to the bedroom next door. As we entered the room…I glanced over to the far left wall and above the twin beds hung another monogrammed letter plaque with their son’s name…oh, hold on now, there is no way. That’s my son’s name spelled out on that wall! I burst into tears and knew that this was too strange to be chalked up to mere coincidence. Do you agree? This is what I call a God’s wink and it doesn’t get much sweeter than that. So look around and don’t stop looking because sometimes these chance encounters are evidence of a divine origin.
God winks are those extraordinary little events in your life that happen for a reason. Is it chance, or is God communicating with you? The two God winks that I shared with you helped to reassure me that my grandmother was doing just fine (she is still up to her playful silly tricks that we all miss so much). It gave me comfort, peace, and helped me to keep the faith.
My purpose in writing this is the hope that you will stop and recognize the God winks in your own life, both past and present. I would recommend reading Squire Rushnell’s wonderful book called “When God Winks At You” if you’d like to dig deeper into this remarkable topic. Many people experience coincidences in their lives that are too strange to be chalked up as mere chance. In my case, it was flies that lead me to find a beloved letter that had gone missing for 20 years and the names of my children spelled out on bedroom walls in my grandparents old house. What will it be for you? I can’t wait to hear your stories!
