I told a friend today that I was ready for a humdrum normal day. Marv is still going strong and last week he washed both cars one day and mopped all our tile floors on another. Meanwhile, my cough has not gotten better, and as of today I’m on steroids and an inhaler. “Not fair,” I scream, “Marv is the one who is supposed to be sick, and I’m the one who is dragging.”

But aside from that, I’ve told several people lately that God continues to sit firmly on my shoulder. Except for one slip-up—the one in a recent post where I was confident a local haircut would work out for me…and then didn’t, God has been right there causing all these “what are the odds” kind of experiences.

Last Monday, I met with a group of women from my church for morning fellowship. My job was to provide the discussion topic, so, based on all my what-are-the-odds, God-sighting, providential events in the last few weeks, I asked each person to share hers.

I started by sharing two of mine.

First, a person who backed into us on our February trip to AZ turns out to know the owner of our local repair shop here in South Dakota, discovered after Marv had sent that person the estimate of the cost. He called Marv while we were driving to Michigan, and said he was arranging the payment of the repairs with his friend. Really now… A random person in AZ knows our repair guy in South Dakota?

Second, during that same trip, Marv had just said to me that my hair looked really bad—that was OK because I agreed with him—so I messaged my former hairdresser in Chicago on Facebook on a Sunday morning from our car and asked if she’d have an opening on the day we were going to be there. She answered immediately; she’d heard about Marv from a mutual friend, was going to reach out, gave me a time, signing off with, “OK, Luv.  Giving you a big hug. Can’t wait to see you.” Really now… She just happened to be on Facebook Messenger at the same time as I was on the morning of her day off and just happened to have an opening when she’s usually booked weeks ahead?

My morning fellowship meeting helped all of us become more aware of “God sightings” in each other’s lives that at times seemed nothing less than a miracle. We did decide, however, that if we ever did that again, we could probably skip all those truly miraculous rescues from the close-calls that could have taken our lives.

Other instances I didn’t share: I discovered the hostess of my new-to-me book club was the predecessor to “my” hospice chaplain. Really now… And, after a sales clerk asked me numerous times if I was looking for anything special, and, in desperation, I finally answered, “Yes, I am. I’m looking for something to wear to my husband’s memorial,” she disclosed she used to be an oncology nurse, asked about my husband’s cancer, and asked to give me a hug. Really now…

And then all our adult grandchildren from out-of-state—three, plus their significant others—came for a long weekend. Truly another God thing to have all six in the same room at the same time sharing our stories. None of us had been all together in a long time. We had laughs and tears, shared blessings and hurts, and wound up the weekend with hugs and prayers of gratitude for our faith and asking for God’s guidance in our lives as a family.

My last story for now—a few weeks ago, I’d mentioned to a gal at church that Marv’s life-long favorite song was “In the Garden.” And, yesterday morning, as Marv and I sat in church with our six young-adult grandchildren lined up next to us on the pew, the choir sang, “I come to the garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses…and he walks with me and he talks to me, and he tells me I am his own….”

Can you feel the emotion that swept over me? See my tears? I can only conclude that God is faithful, God is kind, and as we learned long ago in catechism, God is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. And, did I mention that our pastor’s sermon was on “knowing” God, as in “experiencing God,” not just “knowing about God”?

I wouldn’t recommend getting cancer to have the profound experiences we are having, but it’s been a huge wake-up call to slow down and listen for God’s presence.

Humorous, lighter-weight things are happening, too; I hope to write about them sometime soon!

In closing, Marv and I want you to know that your follows, likes, comments, and other forms of support are greatly helping us ride the roller-coaster of “unknowns” inherent in an “adventure” of this kind. We are deeply appreciative. Thanks!