By Pattie Mihalik

A few weeks ago I published a column about God Winks - happenings that can’t be explained by happenstance or coincidence.

Thank you, dear readers, for all your heartwarming responses. I was surprised so many said they occasionally experience “something deeper than coincidence.”

“I’ve been having those experiences but I never heard them referred to as God winks,” wrote one 89-year-old Emmaus reader.

Bethlehem native Richard Stiles also believes God winks are a common occurrence, even though some never heard that terminology.

It was a God wink he experienced many years ago on a married couples retreat that had a profound effect on his life, he said.

A big thank you to Michael Yablonski of Emmaus for clarifying how the term “God Winks” came into usage.

He’s right when he says it was originated by Squire Rushnell.

I had credited the wrong man in my column. What often happens on the Internet is that ideas are borrowed or shared and the true originator isn’t noted.

Squire Rushnell coined the phrase “God wink,” which he defines as an event or personal experience so astonishing that it could only have come from divine origin.

He went on to write several God Winks books that continue to win readers.

“Coincidences are the best way for God to establish a presence in your life. Think about it,” Rushnell says.

“If you were God and wanted to connect with humans how would you do it? You’d create little miracles like coincidences that cause people to say, “What are the odds of this happening?” he writes.

That’s exactly the question Karen Paul asked herself during her brother’s funeral service.

“I had asked my brother to let me know in some way after he died that he was OK.

“During the church service a beautiful, dragonfly landed on my pew and stayed there.

“The last gift my brother gave me was a dragonfly necklace. What are the odds of seeing one inside a church, during his funeral service, right on my pew? It’s way beyond coincidence,” she said.

Bethlehem reader Elaine Molnar shared another God Wink about a minister who found someone had left four gift boxes for children in the church on Christmas Eve.

Although all the Christmas gifts had already been delivered and the pastor was pressed for time, he decided to deliver the four extra gifts to an area social service agency.

The gifts were marked with tags that said Boy, age 8. Girl, age 6, Boy age 4 and girl, age 2.

The pastor apologized for the late delivery, only to learn it was right on time. The agency had just received a request for gifts for four children that were the exact ages and sex of what was written on the gifts the pastor brought.

I had my own little example of a God wink during the only day I ever experienced complete fog in Florida.

I wasn’t happy when I took my early morning walk because heavy fog was causing my vertigo to kick in. I couldn’t tell the bay from the street.

Usually my morning walk is my time to give thanks for the world around me, but I was nauseated and not in a grateful mood.

Although nothing was visible through the fog I was surprised to see an osprey sitting on a pole way out in the water. I shouldn’t have been able to see it because I couldn’t even see a few feet in front of me.

I was moved by the beauty of the scene and by God’s Wink, reminding me to look at the beauty of the day instead of grumbling.

My friend Bob still says he doesn’t believe in God winks or “any of this silly business about signs from God.”

“People can talk themselves into anything,” he insists.

A long time ago when I was a reporter in my Pennsylvania hometown, we had a major event that drew crowds and controversy.

It all started when a little girl attending a church service with her mother announced very loudly, “Look Mommy, there’s the face of Jesus.”

Sure enough, others in the church also saw the face of Jesus. It didn’t stop there. Word spread as fast as fire in dry grass.

When local television stations carried the story of hundreds standing in line to see the face of Jesus, people traveled there from all over. Some reported cures and miracles attributed to the presence of Jesus.

Eventually l went to cover the story.

Was it the clever work of a showman? Or, was there something mystical going on?

I sat in church, watching people and talking to visitors about why they were there.

A man sitting in the pew in front of me suddenly put his hands up to his ears yelling, “Stop the noise.”

His wife claims he couldn’t hear any sound for decades. When his ears opened in the church, the noise was too much.

When I got back to the newspaper, one of the editors doubted everything that was going on.

“If it were really Jesus,” she said, “people would believe and change their lives.”

I had a lot of unanswered questions. But what I did believe, and still do, is unexplained happenings can simply be God reminding us of his presence.

God’s winks can be another way of getting our attention.

Contact Pattie Mihalik at newsgirl@comcast.net.