god-incidence.com

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/

Sent to me and seen at MulledVine

This weekend we went to IKEA.

If you’re a British husband, this 4 letter word can strike fear into your heart.

Why did we go? Because my youngest daughter needs a new bed and contrary to what you might think, only IKEA seems to have the right beds. In my opinion they have very nice beds at the local Furniture Village 2 miles away, but no, it has to be to IKEA.

Our “local” IKEA is 30 miles away, a part of a huge shopping complex that serves as a Retail Mecca for millions. It provides hours of “fun”: queuing on the roads, endless browsing, queuing for bite to eat, more browsing, queuing at the tills, and finally, with the day mostly over, the long drive home with thousands of fellow shoppers. And then to add insult to injury, there awaits the hours of frustration as I try to assemble my purchases from the very compact flat packs with obscure instructions that seem to be for completely different products!

So why do I regale you with my tale of woe? Because something unusual happened.

In preparation for our pilgrimage and the anticipated purchase of a fine, and dare I say it, unique IKEA bed, I had to put the roof bars on our car and look for our binding straps. I have a wonderful collection of such straps, accumulated over the years because I constantly misplace them and have to buy new ones. Yet, once again, the blessed straps were missing.

I searched “everywhere” in our garage, through heaps and heaps of chaos. Eventually I gave up in disgust, resigned myself to yet another strap purchase, and turned to exit the garage. As I turned, there was an almighty crash behind me as a basket tumbled from the top of one of our chaotic heaps to the ground. I turned around patiently, thanked God for giving me the opportunity to grow, bent to pick the basket up, only to find it full of my missing straps!

Now you would be within your rights to attribute this to blind chance, as improbable as it is, but I would like today to thank my God for the little things in life.

Robert

Houston, We Have A Problem

During routine maintenance, water dripped down a line that led to the control panel for the ice plant. Upon hearing a loud pop, the guys ran to the rescue to find flames pouring out of the box. The damage was already done and here is what we were left with. (see picture) Kent called an area electrician that we always count on for our bigger projects. They said that they couldn’t fix it this time, it was out of their league. Kent called me and said, “Tammie, this is big and we’ve gotta pray.” You see, we know that nothing is ever out of His league.

Kent called a friend of the family, Tom, who has experience in dealing with this sort of equipment. He, inspite of his health issues, was there to help guide Kent through the clean-up and assessment of the damage. A true God-send. Later that day while on their way to eat supper at “White’s”, Tom admitted that they were over his head. He felt that he had proceeded as far as his experience could get them. Kent replied, “Let’s sleep on it and see how it looks in the morning.”

Well the night came and went, then there was morning. Tom came by to pick Kent up and head to the ice house. Upon driving up, they caught a glance of Les at the trailer park rolling up his water line preparing to go home to Amarillo. Kent said, “Tom, would you mind if I asked this guy to take a look at this with us? Les is an electrical engineer.” Tom gladly agreed and before they knew it, Les was in the thick of solving the rest of their problems. Another God-send. Not only solving, but he had the skills to make this control panel better than it was before. You see, last summer on three occasions we had ice jams resulting in busted augers and mountains of ice on the floor. Next week, Les, Tom and Kent will be installing photo eyes, automatic shut-offs and an alert system. This is so far out of our league that we know it is GOD.

God allows trials and tribulations to come because of our disobedience. But in this case, sometimes they just come! And we have to trust that he has a plan to make things better than they were before. Thank you God for coming to our rescue through Tom and Les. Bless these men beyond measure.