Proof in a Photobomb

by Deborah Maxey     7 Comments

I love photobombs. The person being photographed thinks they know how the picture will turn out, only to have a huge surprise when something unexpected steals the scene.
This month the miracle is how God photobombed me! No kidding!
When I was writing The Endling, I clearly remember the day I created the idea of Emerson (the main character) finding a pendant in a mystery tin her grandfather had hidden for her. She had to earn the right to wear it.
As I wrote, the picture in my head was clear. The pendant would be the size of a half-dollar, carved out of bear bone, with the face of a bear in the middle, two eagles on top, and two eagles on the bottom. I wanted it to represent The Endling’s family. The circle shape for her grandmother- Pale Whispering Moon, the center carving, her mother-Standing Bear, two eagles on top-Grandfather TwoEagles, and the two on the bottom for her. Easy Peasy. Because I saw it in my head I didn’t try to come up with anything else and moved along.
A couple of years later a miracle occurred, I got a contract with Firefly Southern Fiction to publish The Endling.
A year after that-another miracle. I felt an internal nudge to google “pendants carved in bear bone,” thinking if anyone used that medium, I might commission a replica to wear the day of the book launch. When handmade jewelry sites popped up, I was delighted. I clicked on one and typed “bear and eagles,” in the search bar.
If my life had a soundtrack, as they do in movies, this is where angelic music would be playing because when I hit “enter,” the pendant I (thought) I had created in my imagination popped up.
Not just something like what I had visualized and written. EXACTLY WHAT I HAD VISUALIZED AND WRITTEN! Then my life soundtrack would have been playing the Twilight Zone theme because I must have said, “no way,” at least fifty times.
Turns out that I wasn’t the creator. God was. He had gifted me a perfect preview when I wrote the description. Even though I had not felt His presence in a supernatural way, the pendant is proof that feelings are not facts, because God had directed me. He was the “author and the finisher.” I was just along for the ride.
I have a pendant that is proof He is always there guiding, directing, and interacting with me even when I’m oblivious. Bear bone proof!

Just for fun…this would be the angelic music that goes with my miracle. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koOFRFAmeAk
And the theme when the pendant popped up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-b5aW08ivHU

Do you have a God photobomb to share?

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7 Comments

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  1. Denise Grandstaff says:
    October 23, 2021 at 9:19 am

    Love this story❤️

    Reply
  2. Clare says:
    October 23, 2021 at 10:10 am

    The YouTube link will not come up for me. Is there something more I need to see????

    Reply
    • Deborah Maxey says:
      January 23, 2022 at 5:26 pm

      Clare, I have no YouTube address. I’m sorry it took so long to respond to this. And I have no idea why it didn’t come up before now. My apologies

      Reply
  3. Diane Tatum says:
    November 7, 2021 at 1:46 pm

    Too cool, Deborah.

    Reply
  4. Deborah (another one) says:
    December 12, 2021 at 11:52 am

    I read in a book an epitaph that was on a grave stone that spoke to me. I changed the the second line slightly.

    Sleeps, but rests not.
    Loved, but could not feel loved.
    Tired to please, but pleased not.
    Dies as she lived, alone.

    I also read in that same book something else that spoke to me:

    My life is not futile.
    May failures are not fatal.
    My death is not final.

    From another book, I realized one of my sins is I am putting God in a very small box deciding he does not love me, does not speak to me, and wants nothing to do with my as that is what my life shows. I realize my sin, because I have chosen to believe that I am blind and cannot see God at all in my life right now. I have cut God off, God did not cut me off.

    If I expect nothing, I get exactly what I expect, nothing. It took me a while to realize one reason why your blogs are so inspiring is you expect and know God will show up in your life. You do not predetermine how God will show up, you just know that God will show up and believe God will show up as he loves you and so you keep your eyes and heart wide open to see God as he decides how and when to express himself.

    Out of frustration and hurt, I have closed my eyes and heart and expect God not to show up and thus I am tying his hands. He is so loving he will not override my free will even when it brings tears to his eyes.

    I have been asking and praying for God to show me my sin as I know it is my sin that causes my separation. My sin is unbelief, putting God in a box and deciding from past experiences I am not lovable to Almighty God. I have since confessed my sin and asked for forgiveness. I have also asked God to help my unbelief like the example in the Bible, Mark 9:24. I have asked Jesus to give me the faith of a mustard seed, and open my heart to belief in his love and not the lies I am choosing to believe in my own mind and heart.

    I am trying to not to predetermine how God should or has to show up, that is just putting God in another box. My job is to believe, trust, watch and wait. I was getting so angry (no jealous) as I felt that God loves some but not all of us from reading your blogs. Now I see that you have your relationship with God because you trust and believe that God loves you enough to show up in wonderful ways in your life. I need to open my eyes and heart to God and confess my sins and believe.

    I choose to believe God loves me and not project on God from what I have experienced in life. I will ask God to help my unbelief, to live with hopeful expectancy, and show me what other boxes I have tried to cram him into instead of trusting his love.

    Reply
    • Deborah Maxey says:
      December 13, 2021 at 7:05 am

      Oh, my word what a beautiful, insightful comment! Wow. Just wow. No doubt God showed up with miracles, giving you incredible, door opening, chain breaking, insight! Thank you for sharing it.

      Reply
    • Deborah Maxey says:
      January 20, 2022 at 7:44 am

      So very beautifully said! Thank you for your wisdom!!

      Reply