11:11 A Love Story
I have been trying to be more sensitive to God’s voice the last couple of years. I’m slow…But He is patient. Let me give you an example.
Have you ever made a wish when you looked at a digital clock and saw 11:11? Or heard someone say, “Its 11:11, make a wish!”? Well, I wish for a lots of things – world peace, an end to hunger, to have my bills paid – but I didn’t ever make those wishes when it was 11:11. I would just say. “Oh, God, I wish you would come soon.” That was my top wish.
I am slow, so it took about a week for me to realize I was seeing 11:11 every day, sometimes twice! Then I caught on. God is loving to hear me wish I was with Him in heaven! I started enjoying this little game God was playing with me. Completely by accident I would look up and it would be 11:11. It always brought a smile to my face, because He prompted me to look at the clock at that time. I finally just started saying “I love you too!”
Then I began to doubt, realizing that you can probably teach your brain time. I was afraid I had taught myself internally to know when it was 11:11. I told God I didn’t think it was Him. His grace showed me differently.
Several days later I realized I hadn’t seen 11:11 for a long time. I was sad and a little miffed. So I decided I’d try to watch for it. At 11:09 or 11:07 I’d tell myself to watch the clock so I could see 11:11.
I’d miss it. Something would distract me. I couldn’t make myself see 11:11. I told Him I got the picture.
My noticing 11:11 was a gift from Him – it was all about Him. He was the only reason I was seeing 11:11. I had nothing to do with it.
He went even further to prove it was Him. I would be in one room and the clock would say 11:11. Then I’d go to another room for something a couple of minutes later and see 11:11 on a different clock. (My clocks don’t all say the same time ever.) He was showing me He loved me! He wanted to hear me say “I love You back” – one more time.
Then this little game went further. We were traveling from the east to the west. I checked my cell phone, it was 11:11. I smiled, because I realized we had crossed the time line and it was wrong. It was really 10:11. But God had showed me He loved me. Sometime during that hour I got a call and my phone reset to the local time. I went about my life and for some reason checked my phone a few minutes later and it was 11:11. God really wanted me to know He loved me that day!
Some days are like that. He finds extra ways to show me His love. I will be cooking in the kitchen and glance at the oven timer. There will be 11 minutes and 11 seconds left for something to bake – He wanted me to know He loves me. I pulled up behind a bus at a stop light one day and the number on the bus was 1111. It was just God saying “I want to hear you say, ‘I love you too.’”
The cell phone incident made me realize that it is 11:11 in some time zone every hour. I started seeing 5:11 or 7:11. This was amazing to me. God really wants me to know how much He loves me! He wants to see me smile at our little secret and hear me say, “I love you back.” “I love you too!”
Then something happened. I started just missing 11:11. I’d look at the clock and it would say 11:12. I was hurt. It would be 12 hours before I would even have the chance to see 11:11 again. Didn’t He want me to see 11:11? What was with that? Why had he quit being faithful? What was going on? Why was He late? I didn’t want to miss seeing 11:11. But it was happening repeatedly. Why wasn’t He being faithful?
It was at that minute He spoke to me. ‘You know that one minute ago it was 11:11. You didn’t see it, but you know that 60 seconds before 11:12 it is 11:11. That ALWAYS happens. Just because you didn’t see it, doesn’t mean it wasn’t 11:11. That is how it is with my love. Just because you are going through your day and don’t see it – or are too busy and miss it doesn’t mean it isn’t there.’ WOW!
I hope next time you see 11:11 or 5:11, 3:11 or 9:11 you pause and say to God, “I love you too.”
