Did you know that God Winks? He really does, I promise! He may not wink at you in the exact same manner that He winks at me, but God Winks. It happened recently at an athletic meeting when Dr. Dub shared that one of the four themes of the university strategic plan uses the word flourishing. God is going to be winking at me a lot in the next few months! You see, as I shared in the post I’m Listening, it feels to me like a wink from God every time I hear or read the word flourish. Have you ever had that special something with another person or group to where when that something occurs, you begin scanning the room to make eye contact with a person who shares that moment? That’s me and flourish. My eyes may not be able to directly connect with God’s, but a grin spreads across my face, and internally, sometimes audibly, I say, “I see you, God! And I’m Listening!”

Recognizing the reality that there are few thoughts or ideas that arise in my mind that are completely original, I’m still often amazed that these concepts have occurred to others, and some have even written on the topic or created some type of ministry as an outlet for their God-designed idea. Even conducting some minor research on this idea that God Winks led to discovering SQuire Rushnell’s story as the “Godwink Guy.” However, it was Sara Hagerty’s mention of what I call a God-Only Story in an airport where she offered this Defining Moment, “God showed up…and He winked. We shared a secret…food for my hungry heart.” Did you read that? God Winked at Sara as she engaged with a stranger while sharing a meal in a restaurant.

To me, this type of encounter is an underlying premise of Sara’s book Unseen: God desires a friendship with us, one where He Winks at us when we share a hidden moment; however, we must be tethered to Him already to benefit from the encounter. “We get a small infusion from God—a spark of an idea, a dream that could impact the world around us, a nudge that might change circumstances—and we run with it without tracing it to its source [testing it]…Though that work is significant and often substantive, we can chase it with such fury that we miss the dozens of opportunities for friendship-like conversation with God along the way, for stillness to hear God’s whispers as we work.” To experience God Winking at us.

One of the enjoyable aspects of Sara’s writing is the authenticity of her words, as she does not always paint an Instagrammable picture of her journey in discovering a friendship with God. She explains how she struggles to embrace this friendship, and the reality is that it does not happen without effort. “We’ll mature without effort into wrinkles and gray hair, but our hearts won’t mature deep into God by default. We have to desire more and more of God.” Because she is intentional about cultivating this friendship and using prayer to dig deep into the soil of God to be nourished, she is rewarded as God Winks at her. “I cry-prayed and talked and gushed and fretted, out loud and right to Him. And He winked…God winked. He responded in ways I wouldn’t have had an eye for had I not prayed them first. Prayer positioned me to notice. Him…The wink of God: It comes when we believe He is capable of reaching tenderly and knowingly into our story. It comes when we believe He wants to intertwine His story with ours and tell our story back to us, His way.”

Embracing this idea of friendship with God is not an easy concept for me to wrap my mind around because I want to see, feel, and touch those that I call friend; however, it brings me a little closer if I picture the Smiling Jesus from the series The Chosen. Somehow, seeing a mischievous grin spread across his face, it’s not too difficult to add a little wink too. I see you, Julie, and I’m winking at you every time you encounter the word flourish!

Do you have moments when God Winks at you? I’m sure myself, and others, would delight in reading about these encounters, if it’s not too personal—some things are just meant to be experienced between you and God–please consider sharing in the comments below.

References:

Godwinks. (n.d.). About. Retrieved from https://godwinks.com/pages/the-godwinks-story

Hagerty, S. (2017). Unseen: The gift of being hidden in a world that loves to be noticed. Zondervan.