I see penny as a direct message from God.

 It’s common for people in the USA to say it’s lucky to find a penny (one cent). So I got in the habit of picking up the penny wherever I found it and pocketing it. Penny is a commonly used coin in the USA and is easily found in many places, primarily shopping centers. I didn’t know about it being lucky or not but finding it was always an excuse to smile, be happy, and think, “Oh, I found a lucky penny.” I have picked up countless such pennies over the years.

“All things happen for our highest good. God is Love, and he only gives us the best loving challenges that we need to learn something from” is my faith. I tested this premise over and over again and found it to be 100% true. Most of the time, we cannot see the higher purpose of seemingly adverse or traumatic events or circumstances immediately. But, I’m sure everyone can count numerous times in their lives when in retrospect, they were thankful.  E.g., Even as a child or in your younger days, how many wishes you made and cried that things were not going your way, but later on, you were so thankful that you didn’t get your desire?

This faith, among other things, typically helps me bounce back to balance in case situations or people come the way that challenges me and appear to be negative.

But this particular time, several years ago, I was hit by a simultaneous load of personal crisis when I couldn’t pull myself out of the anxiety and sadness.  When we have stress and adrenaline is pumping high, scientists say we go into ‘Fight and Flight’ mode. I guess they forgot to mention another mode. ‘Fight and Flight or Freeze.’  The freeze mode applies to me. The frozen anxiety/numbness had taken hold, and I couldn’t find the balance back to normalcy by myself.

People respond to this Freeze state in many ways; some people fall sick, some people get depressed and hide in bed; I get out of the house, drive, go the park or run errands. Typically, it helps shift me into a usual self. But not this time; it wasn’t happening.

So here I was out and about – in the park and running errands. Suddenly a shiny penny got my attention at one of the very unusual spots while walking about. I picked it up as was my habit, but it didn’t quite bring any smile to me. I walked back to the car, sat engrossed in my sadness. I prayed to my Guru Ji to help me get out of that depressing mood. I could not handle the enormity of crisis I was feeling.

Suddenly my attention went to the penny I was still holding in my hand, and as if a force drew my attention to the words written on top. Believe it or not, this was the first time I saw those words on a penny.

How did I never before paying attention to the inscription on a penny? The words were ‘In God we Trust. Waves of Love and calmness came over me. It seemed like my Guru Ji was giving me the message that the crisis at that time had a much bigger purpose than I could understand at the moment; to trust in God that it was happening for the best (which later, in retrospect, was one of the most favorable circumstances that could have happened)

That message came at the perfect moment when I truly needed it. Overflowing with gratitude and tears, I thanked my Guru Ji for the ‘hand holding’ and lifted me out of mental and emotional agony.

The exciting and highly joyful thing is that Penny has become one of the established personal messaging methods for the Divine to send to me since then.  I see penny as a direct message from God? Lol!

When I need snapping out of some profoundly anxious moment, I never fail to find a shiny penny, it catches me by surprise, and I find it at sometimes the most fantastic places and feels as if it is calling out to me.  It seems to appear out of nowhere, just within my view. Of course, I still find pennies at other times and around familiar places where you could find them, but those moments and feelings are just not the same.  

So here I say again, “Do not limit the God/Guru” in which he can reach out to you, to tell you he’s with you, to comfort you and shower his Love. And he’ll even customize it to your interest! I loved picking up pennies found on the road, so he made it one of the preferred communication methods.  I see penny as a direct message from God. 

I’m looking forward to writing about how a recent incident on December 28, 2016, I once again saw penny as a direct message from God, helped save our entire ski vacation during extremely heavy snow. It’ll be in the next blog.

Om Shanti,shanti,shanti

Ritu