It all started a couple months ago. To try out for my dream of a college dance team, known as the "World Famous Kilgore College Rangerettes," I needed to send in a "full body" picture with my application, so naturally my mother decided none of the thousands (yes, thousands) of pictures that I already had would work and insisted that we took a new picture. (By "new picture" she meant do an entire photo shoot at the state capital in downtown Austin, Texas, mid-afternoon on a Saturday.)
Side note: at first I was dreading that photo shoot because of how awkward it sounded, but it actually wasn't too bad. Everyone was so sweet! I got to witness a wedding take place and a few people came up to me to ask what I was doing. The look on one little girl's face was priceless, you would've thought I was Cinderella or something!
Anyway. My mom took a bunch of pictures of me that day. Later, I went through all of them and finally decided on "the one." When I finally finished the rest of my application, I went onto my desktop to find and upload the picture that I had selected...it was titled IMG_0555! (I have a slight obsession with the number five. Three fives? Even better.) Since I was starting to get doubts about myself and my dancing ability, this sign was the nice little reassurance I needed to keep me confidently working towards my dream.
This one isn't AS significant, but later I had downloaded all of the pictures from my phone onto my computer. I went through them and noticed that the one and only "screen shot" I had taken on my phone of this dance team was titled IMG_7755. 1.) Two fives! 2.) This number also closely resembles the number 75, which is the "line" (a similar concept to "classes" used in school) that I auditioned for, the 75th line. 3.) It was a screenshot of a promotion for the 75th line. How cool is that?!
Time went by and, finally, I found myself in Kilgore embarking on the grueling week long tryout process for my college dance team. After attending the school's orientation, I went and visited the Rangerette museum. While talking to the person who worked there, I found out that the team's captain from 1955 had just visited Kilgore/the museum for the FIRST time ever since the museum had been open! She was on the 15th line! She came all the way from Florida just to visit the organization, most likely in honor of the commencement of the audition process for this diamond jubilee line. This just really struck me of all people as amazing because of my nerdy obsession with the number five and all multiples of five, but in particular the number 55 because it is a multiple of five but numerically it's two fives.....anyway, for some reason, even though I didn't see her in person, I just felt very special and lucky that the day the leader of this amazing team in 1955 decided to come was the same day I came as well. Did it have anything to do with me? No. Nevertheless, I appreciated her perfect timing.
Walking out of the museum, my mom spotted a dime on the ground. Yes, dimes are worth ten cents and that rocks, but that's not the significance of this dime. Dimes remind my mom of someone she loves who passed away a long time ago, and they always seem to pop up only when we are in need of a reminder that we have a guardian angel watching over us. This dime just proved to me that God is helping me through this week of tryouts and my goal of becoming a Rangerette was indeed His plan for me, counteracting the physical sickness I felt and the fear placed in my head. This particular instance, along with the previous events involving the fives, led me to write this passage in my quiet time journal that night, the night before tryouts:
"'Coincidence'-used only once in the Bible, in the New Testament by Jesus in the Parable of the Good Samaritan.
And by a coincidence a certain priest was going in that way, and having seen him, he passed over on the opposite side. Luke 10:31
Coincidence-translated from Greek 'synkyrian,' which is a combination of two words: 'sun' and 'kurios.'
Sun=together with
Kurios=supreme in authority
Coincidence literally means together with God
biblical definition: what occurs together by God's providential arrangement of circumstances
For God, there are no unimportant events, He does not need to conserve His strength because His power is limitless. Isaiah 46:9-11
-just because we are taken by surprise, doesn't mean God is!
All things work together for the good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28"
I had looked some of these things up from a website, which I will link right here:
http://www.gotquestions.org/Bible-coincidence.html
Yes, I am that girl that will look up something just to put it in my quiet time journal. It's interesting though, isn't it?
Sunday morning was the day tryouts started and the day we moved into our dorm for the week. When I got there, I discovered that the rooms were a free-for-all. Since all of the floors I could easily escape my elevator phobia and take the stairs to were full, I started out at the best floor, the fifth floor. To my surprise, only two other people were on this floor! As personality tests have proven, I am half-introverted and half-extroverted, so having my own personal dorm and some quiet time to recoup at night after a stressful/exciting day at tryouts was perfect for me. Plus, what better room then room 505?
I didn't get a pic of my room number, so instead, I'll show you my DIY cardboard and sharpie classy dorm decorations and how I hung my sign I had to wear throughout tryouts on my door.
The very first thing we did at the official start of tryouts was attend a tea to get to know each other better and break the ice. We signed our name and randomly drew numbers out of a hat to figure out which "discussion group" we would be a part of - surprise surprise, I picked group number 5!
I was holding back tears. It was a great moment.
My friend sent me this quote that night:
"Every calling has a college.
Every purpose has a process.
Every destiny has discipline."
Though it has nothing to do with fives, it's no coincidence that she sent me that. It's so hard for me to realize that there are things out there that align perfectly with the things I'm passionate about.
The last day, the girls who would be Rangerettes were revealed at "sign drop" when a large sign covered in the numbers that made it would descend down from their auditorium.
Okay, I take back what I said earlier. This was probably my favorite five coincidence. I made it, yea!
I also met a former Rangerette with the same tryout number as me! Yea 55! Isn't she precious?!
I hope my experiences have brightened your day a little bit.
xoxo, em
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