Winks From God

I was on the coast earlier this week speaking at a conference. I enjoyed getting away for a few days, but even more so, I had a chance to see God at work.

Before my speech Wednesday morning, I found my spot at the head table and spoke to people who stopped by on their way to sit down. One lady approached the table and introduced herself. I smiled, greeted her and asked how the conference had been for her. "It's been okay," she said with an unsure look on her face. "Okay?" I shot back. "You've been on the beautiful gulf coast for the last few days with fabulous weather and you said your time here has been just 'okay'?" She nodded yes. "What's going on?" I pressed her for more. She proceeded to tell me that her 16 year old daughter was killed in a car accident almost one year ago. "Knowing the one year anniversary is coming up has gotten me down," she told me. "To add to that, my son was killed two years ago, before my daughter. And now I'm raising his daughter." Boy, talk about someone who has been hit hard! My heart went out to her. I stood there and talked with her a few more minutes and listened as she told me more. She said she had a wonderful church and pastor who have supported her over these last few months, but it was still hard trying to explain to her granddaughter that not only was her father not coming back, but neither was her aunt. I promised to for pray for her, but the Holy Spirit nudged me that something else was going to happen for her. I hesitated before I opened my mouth and then told her, "I have a feeling God is going to wink at you today." She looked puzzled so I went further. "I just think God is going to show you today that He is thinking of you." She smiled and walked to her table to eat breakfast.

After I spoke to the group, a series of door prizes were given out. I was asked to draw for each winner, so I made sure I mixed the tickets up real good (nothing like a little pressure). The grand prize of the conference was a big screen, top-of-the-line television set. You could almost see every man in the ball room frothing at the mouth for that prize. I put my hand in the box to pull out a name and handed it to the lady at the microphone. "And the winner is....."

The lady I had just spoken to an hour earlier stood up with tears in her eyes and her hand over her mouth. She couldn't believe it! She had just won that big screen television. Out of all the conference attendees, I had somehow picked her name.

When the conference dismissed, I took pictures with those who asked and looked over to see her waiting in line. When she got to me, I simply said, "Honey, if that wasn't a sign that the Lord has not forgotten you, I don't know what is!"

Coincidence maybe? I don't think so. If you didn't know her story, you would probably pass her off as being lucky Wednesday.

Psalm 34:8 says, "O taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who trusts and takes refuge in Him." Proverbs 10:22 says, "The blessing of the Lord makes me rich and He adds no sorrow with it."

A big, flat screen tv wouldn't bring back the pain and hurt of losing not just one child, but both of her children. But no matter what we are going through, we sometimes subscribe to the belief that God has somehow forgotten us. When in all reality, He hasn't forgotten us at all and He uses little "winks" along the way to make sure we know that. I bet if you and I opened up our eyes today, we would see some of those!