Good Morning and Welcome back to Rainbows, Potholes and Nuggets of Gold blog!

Back in November, I posted about making my second round though this incredible series. Well, last week I finished!

Yep, 9+ years, 59 discs and over 200 episodes of faith-affirming stories. So, today, I thought I'd share a few of my favorite episodes and tell you what I've learned.

My three most favorites out of all, feature Wynona Judd beginning with the 100th episode, 151st Psalm. In this show, Audry (played by Wynona) has been unable to finish a song of praise she started writing when her son was born. But Petey needs this last item on his "To Do" list because... Well, watch this and you'll understand...

The other 2 episodes featuring Wynona are Season 6 #25 and Season 9 #20, which is the last show before the series finale.

Speaking of the finale, the way they ended this series is absolutely phenomenal! During these 2 hours we see Monica (Roman Downey) on an unknown mission while waiting to hear about her promotion. At the end, she is talking to the Lord and says, "I'm sorry but I didn't know who you were. Why didn't I recognize you?" 

To which He answers, "Don't worry, happens all the time."

This made me wonder...

Do we ever come face to face with Jesus and not recognize Him?

Do we "entertain angels unaware?"

I believe the answe to both questions are a resounding, "YES!" and so does THIS Guy.

In Season 1 #6 of The Chosen, Nicodemus tells Shmuel that fear keeps us ignorant and in the "safety of rigid tradition." AND that he doesn't want to live in a world where "God can't do anything new."

Neither do I, Sir. Neither do I.

So this day, I'm encouraging you to think outside the box when it comes to Who/Where/When and to Whom God shows Himself. Be open hearted and open minded because it just might be YOU and keep your eyes open to the "startling and unexpected."

Something to think about!
PamT
"Inspirational with an Edge! ™
"Coaching in Pjs" ™

Hello and Welcome Back to Rainbows, Potholes and Nuggets of Gold blog!

In my previous post, I mentioned that I was traveling to Daytona Beach, FL for NCA/NDA national Cheer and Dance competition. My son is the Dance Director at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, TX and his teams were performing. 

Well, we brought home a Gold (1st place - National Championship - His 19th and SFA's 24th); a Silver (2nd place) and two 4th place in their division! 

I told you we'd be getting back to regular posting beginning this week and I'm happy to oblige you with a special guest post by Steve Osborne, author of Beyond Chance: From the Big Bang to the Empty Tomb.

Welcome, Steve, Please tell us why you wrote Beyond Chance...
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​When I was challenged to examine the evidence for Christianity, I was stunned.

I didn't grow up doubting God—I grew up not thinking about Him at all. For three decades, I had dismissed Christianity without truly examining it. When someone finally challenged me to look at the actual evidence—not the caricatures I'd constructed in my mind—everything shifted.

I discovered that my arguments against God were built on false assumptions. I had believed that:
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-Faith requires checking your brain at the door (It doesn't)
-Science has disproven God (It hasn't)
-Evolution explains everything (It can't)
-The resurrection is a fairy tale (The evidence says otherwise)

Part of my journey to faith was learning that true faith is not the absence of evidence but the courage to follow it to its ultimate conclusion.

When we do, we discover that reason and revelation are not enemies but companions, pointing to the same truth—that we are the work of an intelligent and loving Creator.

Writing Beyond Chance: From the Big Bang to the Empty Tomb, has been more than an exploration of science. It has been a journey of faith, reason, and wonder.

My goal was not merely to argue that God exists, but to show that the world itself bears witness to His presence. The evidence for design, purpose, and intelligence surrounds us—from the birth of the cosmos to the intricacies of DNA, from the emergence of humankind to the resurrection of Christ.

The deeper I investigated science, the more I saw the face of God behind it.

Sharing that passion—especially with Christians who are intimidated by science—is part of the driving force behind the book.

How Wonderful! Sounds like an amazing read. Please share with us a blurb and how we can find out more about you and your book.

Sure, Thanks. Here is the Blurb...

Find the answers in Beyond Chance

Where did the universe come from?
How did life begin?
What makes humans so different?
What explains the empty tomb?

From the birth of the universe to the rise of life, from the mystery of human uniqueness to the empty tomb of Jesus, the evidence tells a story—one that challenges the idea that everything we see is the result of blind chance and instead reveals the radiant majesty of its Creator.

In Beyond Chance, scientist and former atheist Steve R. Osborne, PhD, invites readers to examine the clues woven into the fabric of reality itself. Why did the universe begin at all? Why are the laws of physics so precisely tuned for life? How did the first living cell arise with astonishing complexity already in place? And why does the historical evidence for Jesus’ resurrection refuse to fade?

Rather than asking readers to abandon science, Beyond Chance follows the evidence. Drawing from modern cosmology, molecular biology, human origins, and historical analysis, Osborne presents a clear and accessible case that design—not unguided nature—offers the best explanation for life, humanity, reason, and meaning. Science does not erase God—it reveals Him.

Written for thoughtful skeptics, curious believers, and anyone asking life’s biggest questions, Beyond Chance challenges a culture told the universe is silent. It argues instead that the cosmos is speaking—and that its message points beyond chance to purpose.

Folks can read an excerpt when they sign up to receive my newsletter or a sample on Amazon.

Below is my bio...
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Steve Osborne, PhD, is an experimental psychologist who has published peer-reviewed research. Once a skeptic himself, he began a personal and intellectual journey that led him to embrace Christianity as both rational and true. He served as a grant reviewer for the National Science Foundation and a guest reviewer for two peer-reviewed scientific journals. He received his PhD in Experimental Psychology from Arizona State University and his undergraduate degree from UC San Diego, where he graduated with highest honors. His book, “Beyond Chance: From the Big Bang to the Empty Tomb,” integrates discoveries in cosmology, biology, and archaeology with biblical theology. He lives in Northern California and continues to write, teach, and speak on issues of faith and reason. Find out more by visiting his website.

Beyond Chance: From the Big Bang to the Empty Tomb can be purchased at Amazon for Kindle (FREE in KU!), and in Paperback.

Read a Q&A with me HERE.
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Thank You, so much Steve, and many thanks to Gina @TheAdamsGroup for sharing your book with us. We certainly wish you the best of luck and God's blessings with this, and all future projects.

Hope you enjoyed Steve's visit friends and that you'll check back often as I continue to share spiritual teachers, preachers, philosophists, and books with you on Rainbows, Potholes and Nuggets of Gold.
PamT

I've written posts about signs and wonders on this blog before, Here, Here and Here. So when I received Jamie's newsletter about the very same topic, I just had to invite her to share it with us!

Take it away Jamie...

One of my family’s favorite movies is Monte Python’s Holy Grail. In it, an animated God cartoon often appears in the sky giving King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table the guidance they need to find the Holy Grail. (See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-iWe4qXUD8).

Wouldn’t it be great if we could get direct communication like that from God (or from whatever form you accept as the Divine) all the time? But it doesn’t really happen that way, does it? In the case of Monte Python, though, it makes for great comedy.
 
So, if God is not hanging around in the clouds, how does S/He/it speak to us?
 
This past June, I opened one of my reference books that offers predictive guidance based on one’s numerological personal year in any given month. (Life Cycles by Christine Delorey).
 
This is not to say that I want to talk about numerology, it just happens that Delorey’s book gave me my first June "hit." (A "hit" is when an insightful aha grabs your attention.)
 
So, here I am, looking through the book, counting on my fingers to remember my personal year—I’m in my "one" year—and turned to the given month, June. Right away, Delorey writes something to the effect of, "Hey, don’t bother trying to push anything forward this month because, no matter how hard you try, there is no way it is going to happen. Just give it up. Have a nice day" (Okay, it's not quite that cheeky.)
 
Ummm. Okay. So, what should I do instead?
 
Delorey goes on to suggest that I use June to plan or "step into some learning" (my emphasis) about whatever I hope to fulfill over the next nine years. (Nine is the length of each numerological cycle.) That’s a lot of pressure, though. I mean, do I really know what I want to be doing in nine years? (Not a chance!) But I do have some ideas as to the direction I’m moving toward at least for the present year (kinda — I want to keep writing books, set up some YouTube training videos, and do some live Q&A sessions with my following).
 
I don’t always listen to random advice, but nothing was really going on otherwise in June, so I just took note of Delorey’s words and went on about my day.
 
Next, I opened my journal to start the new month. I began reading the opening for June, and guess what? It also began with a projection.
 
June, it said, would be a month of learning. (Yup.) It offered other suggestions as well, but seeing as I had just read the previous notation about June and learning, it struck a chord.
 
It’s common to think of two "hits" or mentions of a thing to be "noticeable," and three "hits" as a bullseye, good-enough-for-a-lottery-pick, you'd-better-sit-up-and-take-notice, confirmation. This was number two.
 
Not long after, maybe the same day, I opened my email to find a newsletter with the opening welcome right at the top saying, "Welcome to June! The theme for June is 'Connect to Learning.’"
 
Hit number three. Okay, maybe I’d better take notice.
 
I don’t know how many "hits" YOU need about something to consider it "a sign," but I took this repetitive message to heart. I first set aside time to figure out what my focus should be, and then I thought about what I might need to learn to bring it about. I made notes, then more or less set it all aside, because, well, life is busy.
 
The next day, while surfing YouTube, a video popped up about June. Guess what it said? (Which just goes to show that if you really need a talkin’ too, God (the Divine, your angels, guides) will find a way.)
 
And that is the message I want to get across today. Are you paying attention to the signs and wonders all around you? Are you grabbing up the guidance freely given and designed to help you achieve your highest and best? Are you taking notice of those subtle coincidences that seem to show up when you least expect them?
 
Recently, I came across Conversations with God, by Neale Donald Walsch. Most people were raving about this writer back in the 2000s, but I had never read his books. I didn’t find them interesting back then.
 
Walsch (or God, depending on how you look at it), says, "My messages will come in a hundred forms, at a thousand moments, across a million years. You cannot miss them if you truly listen. You cannot ignore them once truly heard. . . I will bring you the exact right thoughts, words, or feelings, at any given moment, suited precisely to the purpose at hand, using one device, or several."
 
So often, we ask for guidance, for help, for a "sign" but when it arrives, we ignore it. Maybe we pass them off as insignificant. Maybe we think we are imagining them. Or maybe we are just so busy and unaware that they flit right by us like an unwanted gnat at a picnic.
 
One acquaintance of mine would continually ask for a sign during her prayers. Her heart longed to know that her deceased mother and son were with her still and watching over her. One day while sitting on the edge of the bed praying, a nearby calendar flew off the wall. Not straight down as if the nail had given away, but forward, towards her. She asked, "Was this a sign?" While I didn’t see this happen, she later related the phenomenon to myself and a friend, we both asked, "How much of a sign do you really need?!" Maybe she wanted her mother and son to appear in an apparition like in the Monte Python movie?
 
How much of a sign do YOU need?
 
Another friend, after losing her job of 30-plus years, related how she traveled all over the country for a year, always hedging. She claims she would always say, if this happens or that, she would go to chiropractic school. (The signs, no matter what she asked, always said, "yes," go back to school) She finally acquiesced and went to chiropractic school at age 50. She could no longer ignore the signs. She happily practiced chiropractic for 20 years.
 
Are you paying attention to the signs and wonders around you or are you letting them pass you by as coincidence and speculation? What would happen if you gradually, quietly, gently, secretly, tested them out? What if you picked one or two and paid attention to what they were telling you to do?
 
In my book, Hatch — a Change Your Life Guide, I share the story about "eggs." While at the store, all signs pointed to buying some, but I ignored my intuition. Turned out, I thought about making brownies later that day, but couldn’t. No eggs.
 
Start with something easy. Maybe it’s to grab an umbrella, take a different way home, or an unusual job interview. Are you seeing any signs? Don’t worry if you are making them up. Just edge yourself forward and give whatever is nudging you a try. Let me know how it works out.
 
Will they all pan out as 100% true? No. Sometimes you won’t know if it made any difference at all. But the more you listen, the more your angels/guides/Divine know you are listening, and the more signs and wonders will appear.
 
Another of my favorite movies is Michael with John Travolta and an all-star cast. In this 1996 classic, a rag-tag team of Chicago reporters and others are called to a woman’s house in Iowa as she claims Archangel Michael is living there. Although they don’t believe her, they decide to check it out, and indeed, he is there. But then they realize the only way to prove it is to take him back to Chicago, thus beginning an unusual journey for the troupe, each learning their own lessons along the way.
 
My favorite part of the movie comes near the end where signs are shown in such a way as they often happen in real life. Subtle and hidden among the ordinary in plain sight. I won’t offer up any spoilers, but this shows in grand fashion how the answers we seek are all around us and within us if we but become open to them, listen, and follow them.
 
For some, these times are often chaotic and filled with frustrations that many times are not of our own making. We are dealing with AI, autobots, lost missives, incorrectly filled orders, and much more. What if by simply watching for and following the signs we are given we could make each day just a little easier? Let’s give it a try.
 
I don’t yet know where my learning endeavors will take me. You’ll have to stay tuned to find that out, just as I will. I do know without a doubt I got the message—and yes I followed it.
 
What answers are you seeking? Are you paying attention to the signs and wonders?
 
 *~*  *~*  *~*  *~*  *~* 
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Jamie Linn Saloff assists those seeking relief from grief, pain, and strife by empowering their internal guidance system. She is a graduate of the renowned Fellowships of the Spirit in Lily Dale, NY. And the author of twelve books including Hatch – A Change Your Life Guide. Visit her on the web at https://www.MarvelousMessages.com.