How does God speak to us? There may be as many means and styles of communication as there are people to discern them, but author Squire Rushnell suggests a provocative idea that’s worth pondering. In his book “When God Winks at You: How God Speaks Directly to You through the Power of Coincidence,” Rushnell implies that a coincidence may be more than a coincidence. It may, in fact, be God’s way of getting our attention to let us know we are not alone.
In the recent elections, the possibility of coincidence conveying a sacred message was confirmed for a friend of ours who was candidating for office. It goes without saying that politics can be brutal, and this sad reality was never truer than for our friend. Lies were told, accusations made and groundless rumors circulated. It seemed there were no rules. It was a rough campaign.
One day, our candidate friend stood on a corner near an early voting precinct holding a sign encouraging people to vote for her. It had been an especially difficult day, with her opponents’ supporters expressing disrespect to her directly. She found herself so discouraged that she wondered if she should just give up. She asked herself if it was all worth it. Did she have to sling mud and make cutting innuendos to win? She said she felt alone, sad and almost hopeless.
It was then that our candidate friend noticed an elderly woman who had been standing for some time at the opposite corner of the street, looking as if she were waiting for a ride. Putting down her sign, our friend walked across the street to check on the woman. “Do you need a ride?” she asked her. “Well, I guess I do,” said the elderly woman. “I was supposed to be picked up, but I guess my ride forgot me.” Our friend then went to get her car and drove the woman home. When our friend’s passenger discovered who her driver was she said, “You know honey, I’m sorry, but I didn’t vote for you.” Well, that didn’t help, but the ride was freely offered with only the intention of helping a stranded voter.
When our friend turned her car around to head back, she noticed three people walking door to door with campaign materials. It was a mother and her two children, and the campaign materials they were distributing were for her. Suddenly all the sadness, all the self-pity, all the loneliness were dispelled. Our friend thought, “If this young mother cared enough about the things I believed in to walk door to door with her small children to persuade others to vote for me, then I was not alone in this difficult campaign.” Everything looked different, because with that realization, God had given her a wink.
You may be wondering if our friend won her race. As it turns out, she did. But she would have counted herself a winner either way, because she obtained something utterly priceless in that unexpected and timely wink from God.
Has God winked at you lately? The wink may come in a piece of music, the laugh of a child, the encouragement of a loved one, a scripture fragment remembered and savored. However the wink comes, its message is clear: We are not alone. God cares.
