Sharon Nachman, coordinator for Province III’s Altar Guild ministry, who has helped serve at three General Conventions recently gave the following reflection during Lent.
For the last fourteen months, my husband has had several health issues. I call myself “Florence Nightmare.” During this time, I have asked God what he’s trying to teach me. The word that keeps coming over and over is “trust.” Trust.
Now y’all know that there’s more to a coincidence than meets the eye. A coincidence might seem random: your phone rings and it’s a friend that you were just thinking about. I think a coincidence is a God Wink — a sign of hope placed along your path to let you know that God is thinking of you. I would like to give you two examples of God Winks that have happened in the last month.
At the beginning of the latest stay in the hospital, Arthur couldn’t take his oral chemo because it conflicted with some of the other medications. It was not good. After a couple of weeks, he was able to resume the chemo. When you bring medication from home to the hospital, it has to be cleared by the hospital pharmacist. Here’s the God Wink: his day nurse was ‘Faith,’ the pharmacist was ‘Grace’ and his night nurse who gave him the chemo was a beautiful lady from Zimbabwe whose name was “Morblessing.” I recognized the God Wink and remembered the word “trust.”
A few days later as I was walking into Starbuck’s thinking about all that was going on, a man and a little boy were walking out. The little boy said to me, “Can I give you a hug?” I said, “of course.” He gave me a wonderful hug, and then as he walked away, he said, “I hope you have a wonderful day, and I hope I get to see you again soon.” I couldn’t stop smiling. On the way to the hospital, I told my best friend what had happened. Murray said, “This morning I told God that I wished that I could be with you to give you a hug. He sent someone to do it for me.”
God Wink. When you get a God Wink, please share it because your God Wink could be an answer to someone’s prayer for you.
There are angels everywhere to give you God Winks. Sometimes we feel that we are all alone, as life brings us challenges to overcome and hardships to bear. But when we least expect it, a God Wink can appear. It may be a kind word from a stranger, like that little boy at Starbuck’s, or a phone call at just the right time, and we are suddenly surrounded with the loving grace of God. Look for the God Winks. They are everywhere. Amen.
Published at Provincial Altar Guild Coordinator on God Winks | Province III of the Episcopal Church (province3.org)