ArcaMax

Certain patterns are emerging from the flood of God winks I have received. The vast majority of your winks are completely non-extraordinary events that occur at completely extraordinary moments. They do not violate natural law but their appearance in your life is way more than a simple coincidence. What makes them wonderful to me is that you are open to a sign from your loved ones that comes from beyond the grave. Those signs are proof of a sort that death is not the end of us and that the love our dearly departed ones had for us finds a way of piercing the veil of death and touching our lives.

Many God winks you have sent me involve finding a lost object. Here is an example:

Q: While sitting during the Jewish week of mourning for my dear mother, I looked down and realized that a stone was missing from a ring that she gave me. I was completely devastated ... and of all times to lose it no less. I searched high and low, but the stone was nowhere to be found. This ring was a family heirloom, custom made for my grandmother, with three rather large amethyst stones in it. Months later, my fiancé and I were going to visit my brother in his new house on the Jersey Shore. I went down to the basement to fetch a travel bag, and while coming back up the stairs, something bright and shiny caught my attention. To my amazement, it was the missing amethyst stone. I had been up and down those stairs for laundry and other reasons dozens and dozens of times over the past eight months, and if that stone was there, I'm convinced I would have noticed it. I firmly believe my mother planted it there, and for me to find it just at that moment ... to show my brother and I how happy she was that we were about to spend the weekend together, and also, because I had just put it out there into the universe that I hadn't had any signs from her yet. So now I feel her presence more than ever before, and I'm certain she's always watching over me from above. – (From E in Smithtown Long island)

A: Sometimes it is not what you find but where you find it that makes the finding seem like a God wink.

Q: I've been a reader of your column for quite a few years and look very much forward to it. I believe this is a God wink that you haven't come upon yet. My late husband was an avid golfer and went to the links whenever weather permitted. He passed away more than 20 years ago and I still miss him. I usually do my food shopping at the local King Kullen and one day when I approached my car with my groceries, in plain sight on the hood, was a golf ball. There isn't a golf course within miles of the shopping mall. I still have the golf ball in my car as it comforts me. – (From J in New York)

A: Occasionally, you report receiving God winks in bunches. Almost as if the soul of your beloved was making the rounds to check up on you and deliver a message of comfort and hope.

Q: My husband felt we should do something about a small leak in our basement and also get a home alarm system. I felt both were unnecessary. The day after his funeral there was a rainstorm and the basement was really flooded; then a few days later we had an attempted break-in. I took these as signs that he still wanted me to take care of these issues, and I did. Also, his favorite brother and I went to the multiplex movie theater, which had many empty spaces to park. When we got out, his beloved Buick Roadmaster, that I sold to a used car dealer, was parked in front of us. It still had the red duct tape on the cracked taillight. My daughter, upon awakening one morning, had a visible image encounter with her dad who was wearing the belt buckle he always wore. He told her he was OK. I took all these signs as God winks. – (From M in East Northport NY)

A: I often wonder if the appearances of souls are what they really look like or are they just put into a form that does not confuse or panic us. Whatever, the appearance of a form is one of the highest God winks. Only a verbal communication is higher.

(Send ALL QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS to The God Squad via email at godsquadquestion@aol.com. Rabbi Gellman is the author of several books, including “Religion for Dummies,” co-written with Fr. Tom Hartman. Also, the new God Squad podcast is now available.)

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