god-incidence.com

I awoke on the morning of August 2, 1977 with such intense nausea, that I barely made it to the bathroom. You can imagine my horror when upon vomiting I beheld a stream of bright, red blood! The heaving went on unabated. I could not stop it until finally, blind, I surmise by a dramatic drop in blood pressure, I felt my way to the top of the stairs and called for Danny. He found me, unconscious, on the bathroom floor, where I had felt my way back, still blind, to vomit again.

***

There was no tunnel. There was simply this lovely, soft, ever brightening light. It was like being cradled within a frosted light bulb – all white and soft and glowing, and it was as though the air was made up of music and vibrations. It was a place of teaching, a place of learning, a place… of love. Slowly, oh so slowly, I became aware of a feeling of complete acceptance. Here was love! Profound, exquisite love! I was bathed in it, enveloped in it, completely surrounded by it. I was with God, Creator, whatever name you wish to give the Supreme Being, and I was saturated with love! Finally, I understood what He meant in my earlier vision when He said, “I love you!”

To come to any kind of understanding of what I felt, one would have to go back, back, back to when they were so very young, were hungry, maybe crying. Their mother would come, pick them up, and hold them, and they went from being hungry and uncomfortable to a feeling of warmth and safety and love. That comes as close as I can get to explaining how I felt.

I had never experienced this type of love and acceptance before. I remember thinking, This is how it is! I knew it would be this way! And, I remember finally feeling whole and worthy and safe.

There is a saying that goes something like “Recipe for one happy adult: Take one child, marinate in love for approximately 16 years until ripe and juicy.” This must be what God does. We are not aware of it on this plane, but deep down, the love is there. I don’t think we could function if we felt the full force of God’s love. The glory of it would be too distracting. When I went Home, I recognized it instantly and knew that it had been there all along! Now, I knew who I was! I had my reference, my compass, my oar! I was so happy, so very, very happy.

***

It was with a great deal of reluctance, that I opened my eyes in the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital. I returned to this life with deep sorrow for what I had left behind. I felt lonely, bereft, robbed of my birthright. I was back in the cold, heartless world in which I had spent 24 years, without love, protection and companionship. I wept.

I felt someone holding my hand and looked up. There was Michelle, a friend of mine, who was a nurse at the hospital. She smiled, and smoothing the hair back from my face, whispered through a tear-filled voice, “We thought we had lost you. Welcome back.”

Excerpt from Son of My Soul – The Adoption of Christopher, Debra Shiveley Welch, Saga Books: Chapter 10 “The Reborn”

Some months ago I started my own recruiting firm.

I have been truly blessed during this time.  Recently I received a resume from a software developer I had met through LinkedIn. His start up company had just lost their funding.

I had nothing for him at the time. Two hours later, I received an email from a friend describing an open position at his company that was an excellent match for my candidate.  (A God-incidence in itself).

I set up an interview for my candidate the following morning and received a call from my candidate about 45 minutes after he was scheduled to interview. I asked him how it went and he thought it had gone very well (everybody thinks their interview went well so I thought I’d wait and see).

He then went on to tell me that in the first few minutes of the interview he and the hiring manager discovered they had both graduated from a small Catholic high school in Minot, North Dakota. Now let me put this in perspective for readers who are not familiar with this area. Minot, North Dakota is a city of about 37,000 residents, making it the fourth largest cities in North Dakota, a state with a population of under 1,000,000. Minot is 500 miles away from Minneapolis where the client and the candidate both live. Bishop Ryan High’s average graduating class size is 50 students.

Now, I can’t tell you what the probability of this happening is, but it truly ranks as a Godincidence in my book. BTW, he was immediately scheduled for a second interview the following week.

Lonny J. Gulden
Chief Connections Officer™
Deep Valley Consulting LLC

Sitting on the couch in my mother’s living room day and night, doing nothing but rocking, rocking, rocking, I was uncertain if I could survive this devastating blow. Unable to eat, I was still having problems with anorexia and the slightest stress would throw me into weeklong fasts.  I was becoming weak and my already slight frame became emaciated.  My heart was broken.  Once again, I had been thrown over for someone else and my fragile pain-ridden spirit could endure no more.

I am not sure how long I had been living back home with my mother.  All I know is that I had not moved from the couch, had not changed my clothes, eaten, or taken any liquids.  I was an empty shell and had it not been for what happened next, I don’t think I would be here today.

I had lain down on the sofa and closed my eyes.  Did I sleep?  I must have, because what happened next could only have been a dream.

I found myself on a dirt road.  I remember it was hot…and the dust was swirling in places, irritating my nose; I sneezed.  I saw a man up ahead, sitting on a bench.  I walked over to him slowly as you sometimes walk in dreams…so slowly that it was almost as if I were standing still and he was moving toward me.  I stood before him swaying slightly; even in the dream, I was weak from not eating.  The man reached up and drew me down onto his lap, pressing my cheek to his shoulder.

The material of his shirt irritated my cheek, but I didn’t want to move my head.  I felt peaceful and content.  I think I may have been ready to die right there, filled with a serenity I had only found in the deep woods and rolling pastures of Southern Ohio.

He began to speak.  His voice was deep and resonant, a lot like Robert Duvall’s voice; so deep and rich, that it almost sounded like singing, it was so melodious.  “I love you,” He said, rocking me like a baby.  I remember asking, “How will I know this is not a dream?”  He answered, “When you awake, look not to the right or left.  Do not look behind.  Look straight ahead and your answer will be there.”  When I awoke, there was a cross on the wall directly ahead of me.  It remained there until the day we moved, when it disappeared as magically as it had appeared.

Excerpt from Son of My Soul – The Adoption of Christopher, Debra Shiveley Welch, Saga Books: Chapter 9 “The Forgotten.”

Several years ago I was unemployed. Through another unemployed individual with whom I networked I was introduced to Bible Study Fellowship. I attended regularly, but was always challenged to get there on time.

One of the companies I had targeted in my job search was called FSI International, a supplier of capital equipment to the semiconductor industry. Try as I might, I just couldn’t find a networking contact into the company.

Monday night came along and I felt driven to get to BSF on time. After the introduction, one of the small group leaders was introduced to give his faith story. You can imagine my surprise when the teaching leader when he said, “Tonight we will be hearing from Peter Pope. During the week, Peter is the Vice President of Sales & Marketing for FSI International.”

I would like to be able to say the result of that meeting was a new job, but it wasn’t. It was, however, the beginning of a friendship which lasted until Peter’s untimely death a few years later. This was truly a Godincidence.

Lonny J. Gulden
Chief Connections Officer™
Deep Valley Consulting LLC

I have a God-incidence story for you. It happened awhile ago but I was reminded of it tonight while posting on another blog.This is definitely a God-incidence but maybe not the typical way you’re thinking…

Will (my former boyfriend) and I had a huge fight one day. I was furious and went home and began to write a letter to another friend of mine. I told him what happened but I spent a lot of time slandering Will. I wrote about 5 sentences of not-so-nice things about him. So I sent the letter and I got a reply from my friend (Robert) and he told me to dump Will. He too said a bunch of not-so-kind things about Will.

After about a week had passed (and I still hadn’t spoken to Will) I started to get convicted because of how I handled the whole situation.

I knew that I should not have said those things and wished I could take them back. I confessed to the Lord what I had done but I couldn’t bring myself to say anything to Will. I knew that it would really hurt him if he knew. I told the Lord that I didn’t want to keep anything from Will but I just couldn’t bring myself to tell him. I wanted a clear conscience and I didn’t want anything to hinder my relationship with the Father.

So Will calls me finally and he wanted me to come over. He sounded really strange - kind of irritated but not about the fight. He said he wanted to know who I was talking to. I didn’t know where he was going with that. He kept insisting that I was talking to someone about him.

I asked if he thought it was one of my girlfriends and he said ‘no’.

He said it was a guy and he was really pushing me to tell him what was said. I finally told him the only guy I talked to was Robert and that was via snail mail. So he asked me to read his letter to him over the phone. Robert’s letter was 5 pages long on legal sized paper front and back. So I proceeded to read the letter to him, omitting his slanderous remarks of course, and when I was finished, Will knew that something wasn’t right. He said something was missing. He asked if I read the WHOLE letter to him and I lied and said ‘yes’.

So then, he asked me to bring the letter over. I thought I was going to die! How was I to pull this off now? Did I confess to Will like I should have? Of course not! Instead I rushed to the store and bought yellow legal sized paper and REWROTE the entire letter (10 pages front and back) copying Robert’s handwriting with the slanderous parts omitted! I gave it to Will and he read it. When he was finished he said something like “you mean he didn’t say I was a jerk?” “Did he tell you to dump me?” “Did he tell you that you could find a better person than me?” “Did he call me an #@!z*?” Will knew VERBATIM what was said. He said a bunch of other things that were in MY letter and in Robert’s letter. I did not include everything that was said but the wording was unique - something that a person could not have guessed.

Anyway, I was terrified but I kept denying it. But Will kept insisting that these things were said. I finally said “you know don’t you?” He said “know what?” (he knew, he just wanted me to say it) The jig was up, he knew. I knew right then that somehow the Lord told him because there was absolutely no way he could have known about mine and Robert’s exchange via mail. He knew the words exactly as they were written. It’s like Will had the original letters and read from them. I was so scared, I was shaking! So I broke down and told him everything- I had to at that point because I knew that I was fighting God.

Anyway Will and I reconciled.

So God busted me big time!!!! But He also answered my prayer by forcing me to confess what I said to Will, thus giving me a clear conscience and restoring my relationship with the Father. After I stopped shaking, I praised the Lord for what He had done! I never thought that He would answer a prayer in that way! I mean he busted on me - have you ever heard of that? Incidentally I haven’t done that since. I’m too afraid because I KNOW He will bust me again. It just amazes to think that the Lord truly does watch over us and that He is involved in everything! It’s funny how He wouldn’t let me slide either! He MADE SURE I did the right thing but He had to give it a push first.

I will never forget what He has done - it was terrifying yet amazing!

I am so thankful to Him!

Blessings,
Carol from The Bible Thumper’s Soapbox.
http://thebiblethumperssoapbox.blogspot.com/