Divine Nudges
In this book, divine nudges are not a gentle reminder that you need to try a little harder to be a bit kinder to your friend or family member. To be honest, if only we all did precisely that much every day of our lives all day long, we just might stop war and domestic violence and empty our prisons. Divine nudges in our stories are 'divine get-a-clue' situations that drastically alter our lives, our career paths and our relationships for the good.
These moments may be what many would consider traumatic: sudden loss of employment, divorce or romantic breakup, sudden death of a partner, death of a best friend, unexpected job relocation, tragic loss of a dwelling due to fire, flood, earthquake, hurricane or tsunami, or a very serious health issue.
Just to give one example of how divine nudges can help people get to a better place in their lives, look at the area of domestic violence.
For over two decades I have worked with, spoken out for and supported in my own way the victims of domestic violence. For these women and their abused children, escaping their violent husbands or boyfriends is incredibly traumatic. As horrific as their lives are inside the walls of abuse, it is their comfort zone. Most women stay in these marriages and relationships for financial security or because their religion teaches they cannot divorce. For some, it is family pressure that makes them stay. They are told that the embarrassment of a divorce is greater than the physical violence or verbal threats to the abused victim. In far too many instances, the woman fears that her husband will murder her or the children if she leaves. Too many times, these threats are real.
When an abused woman finally finds the courage to escape her abuser, the alteration in her life requires substantial angelic intervention. It may happen on the day when her husband has threatened physical violence and finally hits her.
She is bruised and bleeding, but she leaves him shortly thereafter. For years she has tolerated verbal abuse. She has been 'put down' in public. Most abusers cut their victim's ability to communicate with their family or friends. Abusers are possessive and obsessive. They demand to be made the center of the universe. It is 'their way or the highway.' To maintain control, abusers must 'up the ante' over a period of years until the time comes when they reach their boiling point and physical violence becomes their next step.
Many times circumstances that to the victims of abuse seem completely out of their control occur that cause the abuser to explode. This explosion can be quite violent. However, this eruption is the very moment of the divine nudge. The victim must finally make a decision, on her own, to leave. She can't go back anymore. She can't take it anymore, and her only option is to leave.
Once she is out on her own, she begins to think of her life with all new rules, parameters and options. She has begun to live her life for herself by her rules.
The victim then realizes that she has been 'nudged' from a negative plane of existence to a much higher plane of love and abundance. She must realize she can 'live without him' and his money. Most importantly, she must believe in herself enough to face the world alone. This woman's life and those of her children, if she has any, have been greatly 'nudged' into a divine sphere.
A divine nudge happens fairly quickly. The situation portrayed in the Broadway play The Fantasticks is a divine nudge. A boy and girl live next door to each other, and though they love each other, their love is untested.
A carnival comes to town, and in the space of forty-eight hours, the heroine is romanced by a 'carny' who promises to show her exotic, foreign-sounding places. The hero is jumped and beaten by thugs, and during his incarceration he thinks only of the heroine. He realizes his love for her is very strong. It is enough to give him the courage to escape, no matter what the consequences. Once reunited, they both realize they nearly lost each other. Infused with the realization of the power of this love for each other, they vow never to take the other for granted again. Within the space of two short days, the perspective of their lives is drastically altered.
A divine nudge occurs when a total stranger enters your life for only a brief moment or a single day and shows you the tools of your talent or a destiny that perhaps you didn't even know you had or that has been lying dormant for years.
Divine nudges are meant to keep your universe in divine order.
The Angelic Traffic Ticket
The mystical meetings humans endlessly dream about the most are those of finding true soul mates. This desire is the fuel of movies, books, songs and music videos. There is some deep well in the human psyche that tells even the most skeptical of cynics that somewhere—out there—is a single 'right' mate for each and every one of us. This kind of meeting is more than just physical attraction, more than camaraderie or a comfortable at-home feeling when you are with the other person. Soul mate conjunctions are born of fire and thunder, and a tangible, sweet calm pervades the atmosphere whenever the two finally bond. Friends, family and strangers see it—this magical aura that cocoons the lovers. It is the thing that protects the soul mates from harm and keeps them together. Is it a blessing from God? Definitely. Is it earned somehow in this lifetime or a past lifetime? Who knows. But the real question is, how do I know if I've met my soul mate?
The story of Jenni and Brad has miraculous signs staked all around them. If you are angelically aware, you'll see them.
Jenni is a very dear friend of mine who lives in Houston. She is a single mother, making it on her own like many others. But despite hardships and pain, Jenni has a light inside her that barrels up from her soul like a steamroller and bursts through her blazing brown eyes and constant, brilliant smile. She is beautiful on the outside, yes, but she's even more wondrous on the inside.
Last December Jenni drove to Austin from Houston to attend to a speeding ticket she'd received weeks earlier. She had her two-year-old daughter in the car, and they had no more than gotten on the road to make it to Austin for her court date, when the worst snow and ice storm in years struck.
The fact that it was snowing in nearly subtropical Texas is strange in itself. Commonly, December brings snow to the panhandle of our great state, but for us in Houston, it's rare. Therefore, we are not accustomed to driving on ice. Jenni's two-hour trip turned into four hours. Her daughter, sensing her mother's tension, was afraid as well. By the time she got to Austin and dropped her daughter off at her mother's house, Jenni's nerves were frayed.
To make matters even worse, Jenni finally got to the courthouse on time and found a note on the door that court had been canceled due to inclement weather. Now those frayed nerves split in a hundred different directions. She felt as if she'd risked her life and that of her only child's for nothing.
Jenni decided she wanted to calm down before going back to her mother's, so she stopped at Hudson's on the Bend. This is an obscure, out of the way, elegant restaurant and not patronized by the happy-hour crowd. In other words, the place was nearly empty when Jenni walked in. There is a huge fireplace and lovely tables in cozy, peaceful surroundings. It was just what Jenni needed.
As Jenni tells it, there were only seven people in the entire restaurant due to the ice storm. As she ordered some dinner and a glass of wine, she noticed a particularly handsome man about her age, sitting across the room from her. From time to time as she would look up, she would see him glance her way. She smiled, but then looked away. The man began staring at her so intensely that he made her nervous. She wasn't afraid of him, nor did she think he was strange, but she got the distinct feeling that he wanted to speak to her. She told herself that she was a single woman, and she was perfectly within social boundaries to go up and speak to him, but she lost her courage. Finally, a male friend of hers joined her for dinner. They finished their meal, and as she left, Jenni thought to herself, 'Gosh, I hope that guy doesn't think that Eric is my boyfriend. He's just a friend.' Within seconds she stopped herself again, thinking, 'I'm losing my mind! I will never see that guy again. And after all, we only looked at each other across a room.'
Christmas came and went. The New Year was ushered in. February rolled around and so did Jenni's rescheduled court date for her speeding ticket.
Back to Austin she drove. For the second time, her court date was rescheduled. Once again, her day was not going well. On this particular evening she had arranged to meet a man she had been dating at a funky Asian restaurant in an old house with stars and moons adorning the red walls, called Mars.
She was ushered to a table, knowing that her date was due to arrive any moment. Suddenly, her cellular phone rang and her date, who was in Dallas, stated that the weather had turned ugly and that his flight had been canceled. He was not going to make their dinner date. It was the perfectly bad ending to a perfectly bad day.
Instead of leaving, she decided to simply order dinner. She was half-finished with her meal when a very handsome man was seated only two tables away from her. He pulled out his cellular phone, Palm Pilot and a book. She assessed that he was intentionally alone, whereas she had been stood up.
The man glanced at her, smiled and then looked at her again. She smiled back, knowing from his demeanor that he wanted to speak with her. Finally, he asked, 'What did you order?'
The ice was broken. He asked her to join him at his table. He ordered dinner, and they began talking. Their conversation flowed easily, as if they'd known each other all their lives o...
