God It

I want to share a very personal story with you all in the hopes that it will inspire you as much as the experience has for me.

I had just flown back to New York from England this past December when I made a knee-jerk decision to road trip it down to Florida to spend the holidays with my family. This would be the first time in many years that we would actually be together for the holidays. I also really needed to be around my family, as I was not in a good place emotionally and hadn’t been for quite some time.

Now, I am a very upbeat and fun person to be around, but I had begun to lose all of those qualities in what felt like record speed. Life was kicking my ass so fiercely and so fast that, no sooner would I manage to pick myself up, I’d find myself right back down again. So much, (forgive me) shit was happening in every aspect of my life that not only was I feeling it, I could almost see the layers of it all around me as I was sinking deeper and deeper. It showed no signs of letting up.

I was praying for a miracle. Divine intervention. Anything from anywhere to somehow show me that this storm was going to pass, and pass sooner than later.

January 1, 2015. I chose this symbolic first sunrise of the New Year to take a walk to the beach and have a word with God. I’m a huge believer in signs, having had so many wonderful experiences with them over the years. On this morning, I desperately needed one. I was nearly broken, yet my spirit was still holding on to what was now the very tail and frayed bits of that hope rope.

I made my journey to the beach early that morning and I asked God – no wait – I didn’t ask. I pleaded and insisted that He/She/It present a sign to me. Today. If anyone knew my pain and struggle, God did, and God knew just how important this day was for me.

Only a few days before, I’d driven to that very beach and sat it my car, feeling completely broken, lost, and alone. So much so that I actually called a helpline – and was put on hold. No BS. I can honestly say that, at that moment of being put on hold, I shook my head and laughed. It was as if the universe had given me that Cher slap from the movie “Moonstruck” telling me to snap out of it.

And so this was crunch time. I wanted a sign and I was determined. Now you would think that in my desperation, I would’ve taken anything that was possibly offered to me and be grateful, wouldn’t you? Not the case at all. I was very specific about my intentions.

I asked for a shark’s tooth. That was what I wanted.

I had spent an absolutely magical day with my mom on the beach years ago, and while we were walking, I had the sudden urge to say out loud, “I’m gonna find a shark’s tooth in the next five minutes!” I haven’t a clue why I said it and I still don’t, but I found not one, but two in those minutes!

I’ve been to many beaches since that day, I was always hoping to find another but never did. Today had to be the day, and I made my order quite clear. I wanted a tooth – and not just any tooth. This particular one had to be bigger than the two I already had. The color gray popped into my mind for whatever reason, so I insisted it had to have gray in it. I also said (and by now, I was on a roll) that I wanted a grand reveal. I wasn’t going to walk over it or pass it by. It was going to be there just as I had asked.

And so I set forth to find this tooth, talking to myself and God while sifting through shells, plants, as well as lazy people’s plastic garbage, affirming to myself that I was going to find what I came for.

The more I looked, the more I felt in my heart of hearts that I was going to find it. After a while of crawling around on my now-sand/shell/plastic-encrusted hands and knees in my search for that sign from above, I took a bit of a break to realign my back and to feed the seabirds some popcorn. It was while I was feeding the birds that I made another declaration to God: “You see me feeding these birds. When I am finished feeding them, You are going to show me what I came here for.”

The birds were fed. The food was gone. I then took couple of steps in the direction of the shoreline and, right there in front of me, with a natural rock seawall surrounded by only freshly washed sand was a single shark’s tooth.

It was exactly as I asked it to be. Bigger. Bit of gray. Presented in a grand manner and it really did take my breath away. I gasped. I laughed. I cried.

I pulled that tooth out of the sand and held it up high and just kept saying, “Thank you. Thank you, God,” over and over for only God knows how many times. I kissed the tooth and held it to my heart.

I could end the story right there, but just like those TV infomercials that say, “But Wait! There’s more!” And there really is more.

I took a photo of the tooth to send to a friend and wanted to show its size, so I grabbed a quarter for comparison and took the photo. It was only when I looked at the photo as I was making it my screensaver that I saw something else that completely blew me away. Hand to heart, folks, this was a random placement of the quarter for size comparison only.

Check out the photo. See the tooth? pretty cool, eh? Now check out the quarter and see what it says.

In God We Trust. And believe me, I do.

That morning was a life saver and a game changer. It has changed everything for me and it has changed me.

I asked. I sought. I found. I put every ounce of my being into my intentions and I God it!

I wear my tooth proudly and close to my heart, as a reminder of a day that needs no reminding from me. I was there and it was one of the best days through the messed days. I so God it and I wish these kind of moments for each and every one of you.