Have you ever thought about what a wink means? Why do you wink? Sometimes a wink means..."I like you." Sometimes it means..."I see what you are doing." And then other times it can mean "I understand what is going on and I'm okay with it." Or my favorite wink is..."Watch this! You're going to like what I'm going to do!" Any way you look at it, a wink seems to be a good thing. It is a positive nonverbal gesture. It has some affirmation attached to it or at least a bit of positive expectation.
A friend of mine was reading a book called something like "God Winks." It was about how things happen that seems so impossible that only God could have made it happen the way it did. It is one of those feel good books about God working in our lives for good in the most remarkable ways. I learned about this book during what could have only been my own personal wink from God. Let me explain....
Some friends of mine had planned a trip to Destin during the month of May to celebrate one of the girl's birthday. May is a crazy month for me and with all the graduation plans that are going on, I knew I could not take a week off from school. I had already used up all my sick leave time and knew I could not lose a weeks' worth of pay. I had resigned myself to missing out on the fun and living vicariously through the pictures and emails my friends would send to me during the week. I have to say I was sad and wished I could go, but knew there was just no way I could. My friends had not come to grips with the idea as well as I had. They had even plotted behind my back to try to collect money to make up for what I would be docked if I took off so I could go. But in the end, we all said good-bye and tears were even shed as we left each other....them to head off on the road, and me back to school.
They drove all night through the pouring rain as I tossed and turned and prayed all night for their safe trip. We shared emails on Monday as I once again reassured them I was okay with not being there and that I wanted them to have a blast and fill me in on all the details later. Yes, I was a bit sad, but still happy for them and content to be at home and work.
This is when God chose to wink.....
That night during our small group, we got a phone call from our principal notifying us that our school would be closing for 13 days due to the swine flu!!! Seriously. One suspected case and the health department recommended our closing. We were shocked and excited. I quickly sent a text to my friends who were enjoying their first full night at the beach and that's when the wink became so obvious!
The girls called me. "When can you get here?" I could not figure out how to drive there alone. It would be a 12 hour trip and I couldn't do that alone. Then the next phone call came....."Will you fly if we get you a flight?" Now, I have NEVER flown EVER and they knew this was a near impossible thing for me to do. Fear holds me so captive! I wasn't sure I could. I still was resigned to staying put and enjoying the time off at home. Then the next call came, "We have a seat for you on the same flight with Lorrie." Lorrie was flying down for 3 days and flying back early. There was a seat...RIGHT BESIDE HER....on the flight and I could have it if I would agree to fly. So, without another thought, I said yes!!! My flight was paid for and before I knew it I was in the air flying to Florida! Three full days on the beach with some of my best friends, listening to the wind and the waves, enjoying the sunrise and sunset, and I was there!!!
I kept waiting to wake up and find out it was all a dream. I never even entertained the thought of getting to go. I knew I couldn't. I resigned myself to enjoying the trip through their stories. I was really at peace with it all.....then God winked! Who would have ever thought that on the week that my friends were in Florida, without me, that a suspected case of swine flu would close our school and allow me to fly on the same flight with another girl and join the vacation? How did all the pieces fall together so easily? How did the first flight of my life turn out to be so smooth on a day with storms all around? How did it happen that when I left and the possibility of reopening the school before the 13 days had passed was proposed that it turned out that I got the whole week off WITH pay and got to enjoy the trip???? It had to be a wink!!!
Our God is amazing! He takes things and makes them what He wants them to be. I have to say that I could not have MADE this happen. There was no way I could have controlled, arranged, manipulated the events to make anything near this happen. It was all such a perfectly laid out trip that only God could have put these pieces together for me.
I can not imagine that my little vacation away with my accountability group/friends would be important enough to our Father that He would chose to wink my way.....but I believe He did. There is no other explanation that fits. I don't believe in coincidence. I don't believe in chance, fate or destiny. I believe in God and His ways. This was such a special gift and however it happened and for whatever reason, this wink will never be forgotten!
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