God Incidence

God rescues birds too

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Most amazing thing happened today at Birdsland Reserve.
I was watching two Spotted Pardalotes dancing in the air and flitting from tree to tree. Then they dive bombed towards the lake, both hitting the water. One flew off but the other couldn’t, it tried really hard and kept moving along, then stopping and panting, then trying again. I was nowhere near it so I couldn’t get a stick or small branch to it, all I could do was watch and hope and pray the bird would get to safety. I was praying so much for God to save the bird but wasn’t at all sure how He would do that, and shaking for the little bird too. Would it survive?
And then suddenly, a Dusky Moorhen turned up (I’d not noticed it before when I was walking along) and it slowly glided towards the tiny, almost submerged bird, then pushed it along towards a stick. I was so thrilled to see this! Wish I’d gotten some really decent shots, but didn’t. I was probably shaking because of my panicking for the little bird. Didn’t have the right settings for a couple of the shots. My glasses fogged up and I moved my camera away from my eyes to clear and then back again, but by then the tiny bird had taken off. whew!
Images are blurred, some are cropped, all are as they were taken. Normally I don’t share shots that aren’t that clear, but these tell a story.
Two Pardalotes
Pardalote stuck in water
Pardalote struggling in the water
Having a break before trying again
Enter the Dusky Moorhen to push the little bird along to a stick. The little bird is almost submerged at this stage.
Pardalote now on a stick having a breather
The hero of the day

God and the Butterfly

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I believe God speaks to us through many things and in many ways. Yesterday a butterfly was the way He touched my husband and me and our young six year old granddaughter. For her sixth birthday we’d told her we’d take her to the zoo and the day finally came to go. The weather wasn’t as good as hoped and we weren’t sure how things would go but we’d promised her, so we went.

The place she wanted to visit, first of all, was the Butterfly House, which is enclosed and kept warm for the butterflies. She had dreams of having a butterfly on her finger and had spoken of it many times. We told her that it might happen but couldn’t promise.

We had to follow a pathway to get there so stopped to look at a few other animals along the way and she was anxious to get there, but eventually we did – or, at least the line up. With current COVID conditions, they limit how many can go inside the Butterfly House at the one time, with face masks on. We waited around 15 mins – less than we were told it might be (up to 40 mins). Once we did get into the area we were advised no touching of butterflies – although you could see many children desperately trying to get one on their finger. I wonder if there’s a story or something they’ve been told at school? I’d love to know. Anyway, we explained to Miss K that it couldn’t happen but if she was lucky one might land on her. And one did, on her hat – a couple of times, but she never got to see that as it was on her head. She took it off, on our suggestion, and then was delighted to see one land. When you see the hat perhaps you can understand why.

 

Very soon we were asked to move on, so that more people could enter the area, so we moved out and then onto a nearby eating area by the elephants, ready to move on with our day, after having lunch. And that’s when the surprise happened. My husband got us some lunch and we sat at a table under shelter. It was a cold day, a bit windy, had been showering now and then. Not really the ideal day for being at the zoo, and definitely not a warm day. As I ate my lunch I looked down at the bag it came in and couldn’t believe my eyes. There sat, a butterfly, very similar to the one that landed on Miss K’s hat in the Butterfly House. Now, we were sure there were none on us when we left the house – we were being careful about that, but here sat a butterfly on our table. How it got there we have no idea. We expected it to fly off, but it didn’t, so took some photos and then eventually let Miss K carefully put her finger close by to see what would happen. It climbed on and stayed still. Then when she moved her finger it moved to her jumper and stayed there. Amazing. Didn’t fly off at all!  We did fully expect it would.

Miss K said we needed to take it back to the Butterfly House but we weren’t sure we could go back in the Exit and didn’t want to line up in a long line at the Entrance. Just as we were discussing what to do, one of the Butterfly Zookeeper staff passed by – he’d been getting his lunch. I called out to him and he came over and I pointed to the butterfly. He then told us that it was too cold for it to fly out here and he’d take it back to the house. So, somehow a butterfly got out of the house, and landed on our table so that Miss K could have her wish. And then the right person turned up at the right time, so it could be taken safely back to where it belonged.  Both my husband and I felt that God had a hand in this and we shared that with Miss K too. She smiled at us, nodding her head and her eyes shining. She’s got a story to tell when she goes back to school in a couple of weeks and the photos to show as well.

 

Traffic Angel

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Sent in by Mary Ann Cobos Boyd.  Thank you.

Traffic JamI am disabled and besides my wheelchair at home I use a scooter to get around town.  The grocery store is located just a few blocks from my house but is on the other side of a major street that is actually a highway.  It is very scary for me to cross and I try to wait until there is “NO” traffic coming in either direction which can take up to an hour of sitting and waiting to cross in either direction.

One day as I was crossing to get back home I got ready for a long wait, I turned my scooter off and let my body just sink into the seat as I sat at a bank parking lot that was easier to cross from.  The weather was hot, no shade and just whispered a prayer “Lord, help me cross”

I had no sooner prayed when a man’s voice behind me spoke in Spanish… “Mam, do you want to cross?”.. I never even heard him pull up and park behind me. Before I could answer he says “Come on” and walked right onto the busy street, waved his arms and halted traffic like some sort of “TRAFFIC ANGEL” with both arms stretched out, palms up in a “stop” signal and all the traffic, even big semi trucks came to a complete stop…

Then with a humble gentle voice he says.. “you may go now”  I was a bit embarrassed, but turned on my scooter (which didn’t have a fast mode) and made traffic wait a little longer as I rode across the street wishing I had a “hurry up button” and thanked my traffic angel as I passed him.

Later I posted the story on my Facebook page and a Pastor friend told me it was his brother. He forwarded the story to him and said. “He cried when you called him a ‘traffic angel'”, said no one has ever referred to him as an angel. O:)

Angels on earth

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Submitted by a reader: Mae Dricken

After spending a delightful fall day with a friend on a tour to the Cranberry Fest in Warrens, WI we headed back to Fond du Lac where the bus left us off to pick up our cars.

I dropped my friend off at her house and headed home to West Bend on Hwy 41 thinking of all the fun and excitement of the day. I was in a very happy frame of mind as I drove along by myself.

My happiness was short-lived however, when about ten minutes out of Fond du Lac, I got a flat tire. Which was quite a surprise, since I had a new car and new tires. Needless to say, I now know the true meaning of loneliness. There I was at ten o’clock at night, in total darkness, by myself and without a phone.

I sat there in the car, I don’t recall how long, trying to talk myself into staying calm. Telling myself not to cry. Finally I realized just sitting there wasn’t helping the situation one iota. So I got out of the car and proceeded to open the trunk and analyze the job ahead of me. Several things were against me. First of all, it was totally dark, secondly, the cars were whizzing by so fast that I thought I would be blown away, and last but certainly not least, I need to wear glasses to read and I didn’t have them along with me that day. So the instruction booklet that I located in the trunk was of very little use to me.

As I began to take the spare tire, etc. out of the trunk, I prayed to God to keep me from harm and if possible, assist me in the task ahead. I prayed that no one would stop for fear of being robbed or worse, but I also prayed that someone would stop to help me. I’m sure that God was as confused as I was about what I wanted at that point.

Well anyway, getting to the Godincidence part of my story. A couple of months earlier, I had subscribed to a magazine entitled, “Angels on Earth.” I read many stories of people describing how an angel had helped them out of dangerous or troublesome situations. So, as I was sitting alone on the side of this very dangerous highway, I changed my prayer to something like this – “Dear God, if we do have an angel to watch over us, please send mine to me now, for I am in serious trouble. As I worked, I prayed, and immediately at the end of my prayer for an angel to help me, a car pulled over to the side of the road, right in front of mine. Now I began to panic. All the horror stories I’ve heard came to mine at this point. Would this be a “friend or foe”? As I sat there nervously by the side of my car, in total darkness, a young girl came to me (I guessed her age to be early twenties) she asked if I needed help and I filled her in on what was going on. She told me she was on her way home from work and for some reason, had this strong feeling that she should stop to help. She also said that she never stops on the highway to help anyone for fear of what could happen to her and because her mom would never allow it. But somehow she felt she needed to stop at this time. I told her that I had just pray for my angel to help me and that I know she is my angel! She told me that that was the nicest thing that anyone had ever said to her. She then drove me back to Fond du Lac to my friend’s house and as we drove she told me she worked at the Ramada Inn, in Fond du Lac, was a senior in high school in Lomira, and was just 18 years old.

This incident happened in September of 1997 and we have been corresponding ever since. She has gone through some hard times in her life, which I’ve been trying to help her through. I also purchased a gold and silver angel pin for her to pin to her jacket to remind her that she is my angel. I’m not sure what reason God meant for us to meet, but I am as sure as night is dark, that there is a reason, and someday we will be enlightened, as to what that reason might be.

Thank you for reading my story, I just love sharing it with whomever I can. God does work in mysterious ways, doesn’t He?