Unexpected Guidance
An Operations Manual for Life
I was having an unusually crazy day at the furniture store. Nothing was going as planned, and every decision I made proved to be the wrong decision. It was lunchtime, and I told Michael that I was going to the bookstore. I loved browsing the books and thought I might find something to take my mind off my day. I told him that I needed an “Operations Manual for My Life”. We laughed, and I left.
I walked into Book World and was immediately drawn to the self-help section. There were numerous new titles, and I started browsing through them. The first title I selected was by Charles J. Givens and titled “Super Self — Doubling Your Personal Effectiveness.” I opened the book to the dedication page. The writing jumped off the page at me. It said, “Super Self is the operations manual for creating your life”. I couldn’t believe that it was the exact content I was looking for. Serendipitous? You bet it was.
Answered Prayer
The next time I can remember having a stressful set of occurrences came when I was working as a lender at Napa Valley Bank. I had worked tirelessly for the past 6 months putting together a loan application for a customer. He was an electrician by trade but wanted to buy a pig farm. He wanted his young sons to have the farming experience.
The purchase of the farm was being made with minimal capital, and the only chance for approval was by using a Farmers Home Administration application. The paperwork for this loan was daunting. Just before the due date, I packaged up the paperwork and sent it to Sacramento for approval. I was relieved to have the next step of this process completed. The next day, I received a call from the people in Sacramento. They said they had not received my package and that it was now past due. I said I had copies of everything and would drive them to Sacramento.
The next comment was not what I wanted to hear. They said they could only accept original documents and that the copies would not be accepted. I could feel a ringing in my ears, and my stomach was doing flip-flops.
I went up to the lunchroom and locked the door. I got on my knees and prayed. I asked that higher power to help. Just then, the phone rang. It was my secretary. She said there was a postman at my desk. In his hands, he had the package I had mailed. It had been returned “postage due”. Serendipity at work again.
The Perfect House
Art called Michael and me in California. He said that he had been to the doctor and had been told that the doctor had sold his practice. He thought I should call the Doctor because he was probably selling his house. I knew his house well. My best friend as a child was a part of the family that originally built this house. I loved it. It was my style, and I felt strongly that this was the type of house that Michael would enjoy. We were in the process of moving back to Wisconsin. So far, we hadn’t found a place to live that checked all the boxes.
I called the doctor that afternoon. Yes, he was selling his house. Yes, it was still available. And yes, it was the very home I had admired since childhood, the one built by the family of my best friend. It felt like the house had been waiting for us all along. Everything about it fit, the style, the energy, the memories tucked into its walls. I nodded yes to Michael, and we made an offer over the phone. It was full price, and the Doctor verbally accepted. The next day, we received a large envelope filled with pictures. Michael confirmed his acceptance.
It was as if all the seemingly random events, the crazy day at the store, the book in the self-help aisle, the returned package, had been guiding us to this moment. Life doesn’t always give us an instruction guide, but sometimes it hands us just enough signs to let us know we’re on the right path.
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