GODWINKS - THE TRUMP OF GOD!

I've been watching Christmas movies on Hallmark TV's Christmas in July. Two of my favorites have the word Godwink in the title. Godwinks are defined as coincidences that are not really coincidence but, rather, God putting answers to prayers in front of our eyes.

I had a Godwink on Sunday relating to a largely unspoken, but heartfelt prayer.  I struggle with depression and it is easy for me to say, like Nephi: o wretched person that I am.  I've experienced miracles even though I am a flawed person. I have felt that too many times to count in the past few years.  Yet, again like Nephi, I acknowledge that I recognize God's hand in my life and the blessings, like Godwinks, continue to come.

As I studied the last lesson for last week's Come Unto Me, I found an article on Book of Mormon Central.  I was not looking for it (which is why it is a Godwink) but it answered in a few words the questioning I've felt for years. It was in an article on the site, written by Steve Mortensen, called The Wish of My Heart, in reference to Alma's O, that I were an angel prayer.  Here's the background of his article:

Alma had unselfishly served the Lord throughout his life.  His prayer was a pleading that he wished he could have an even greater impact on the Nephite people (since so many of them turned blind eyes and deaf ears to his words.)  In his own experience with sin, his life was turned around following an encounter with an angel who spoke with a voice like the trump of God. He was so far gone in sin that he couldn't hear the still, small voice of the spirit.  God had to shout to get his attention and that is what he wished he could do.  But he recognized that his prayer might be sinful and that he should be satisfied with the portion God had given him.  

This is what Brother Mortensen wrote:

However, Alma felt that his desire to have more of an impact in the Lord's service was sinful.  Perhaps in some ways his righteous desires were flawed by mortal weakness, which is often true of all who seek to follow Christ.  Which leads to the questions, does God grant righteous desires that are framed in mortal imperfection.

. . . [at the Los Angeles temple, the Angel Moroni] statue beautifully symbolizes God's respect for the fervent wishes of Alma's heart, regardless of any mortal imperfections that accompanied them.

How those words filled in those tiny cracks between the stones in my jar of happiness!  Even though I am a flawed human being, beset by weaknesses, the Lord has still been able to use me as an instrument in bringing His unconditional love to other people in my life.  In one instance, a priesthood blessing reassured me that what I did for another would have eternal consequences for him and his family.  I was admonished to never stop loving as Christ loves, for He has granted me a portion of His transcendent love unfeigned and I can use that gift to help people feel Jesus' love through my love, flawed though it may be. Like the Nephites, some alienate themselves by turning away from God's love, the greatest healing power on earth, because of their sins.  They can no longer feel the Spirit and, therefore, can no longer feel Christ's love.

The Lute Player 1537
Michelangelo Merisi de Caravaggio

I am grateful for the sublime gift of Christ-like love, and pray that I might always use it to serve God through serving His children.  In the words of the great Persian poet, Kahlil Gibran, I am a lute, strung with strings, but I am not the lute player.

© Dr. Kathleen Rawlings Buntin Danielson, July 2020