“God, I need a blessing today! Please bless me today!” I woke up screaming out this prayer after taking a much-needed nap. After returning home to my new apartment from an early morning meeting, I was having a tough time functioning. I was sleep deprived from a month’s struggle to sleep through the night from the unexpected noise from the nearby interstate. Feeling like a zombie, I had to stop and recapture a measure of rest. My brain was fried and I could not function anymore. Something had to give. I desperately needed some recovery.
After I sent up my cry, I got up immediately and checked my phone. My friend, Jeffry, had sent me a text. “Veronica, I felt impressed to spend the day with you. I’ve canceled all my appointments. Are you free to get together?” Huh. I called him and we decided to meet at Panera Bread in Winter Park.
“Veronica, I wanted to follow-up with you on your need for a caddy for the Senior Women’s U.S. Open Qualifier. As someone who went to school to be a golf pro, I’d love to do that for you.” We talked about doing a “test run” to see how we would jive together. I mentioned to him, “There’s a skins game with some guys from the Golf Channel at the Winter Park Golf Course at 3:30. I’ve never played in it, but it sounds like fun. Knowing that it is a little competition, we could do our ‘test run’ there this afternoon. However, I’m not sure I want to pay a green fee and 20 bucks for the game the way I am feeling. We looked at one another, smiled, and said, “Let’s go!”
As we headed out of Panera, Jeffrey looked across the street to his favorite restaurant, Boca, and declared, “We are going to win the skins game, take the winnings, and come back here for dinner!” “You go, boy! You call that shot!” I replied. We chuckled about his golf prophecy and headed on over to the course.
It was a beautiful day to walk the nine hole course. I was paired with two nice guys and Cara, a host for the Golf Channel. I didn’t play great, but birdied holes #2 and #3. I was hoping I would win a skin on hole #2. (A skin is when you get a score lower than everyone else but only if you are the only one with that score. If two people birdie a hole, there is no skin awarded.)
Jeffry was great at reading the greens and we had a good flow going between us. Once in, I anxiously awaited for the results.No one in the group in front of us birdied #2 or won a skin. One more group was after us. One guy had five birdies, but did not win a skin because there were others who also birdied the same holes! I was the only one who birdied #2. Not only did I win a skin, I was the ONLY one who won a skin! I won all the money!” My winnings totaled $200!! Total victory! Jeffry and I looked at one another and laughed! “You called the shot, brother! Your declaration came true!” Jeffry exclaimed, “That’s just the start for things to come! Total victory, Veronica!” “Let’s head on over to Boca for dinner and fulfill your prophecy!” I replied.
We had a delicious dinner at Boca. We spoke about the power of our words, how we can declare things and they can happen. I couldn’t help but think of my cry earlier that day. Only God knew what I needed to get out of my funk—a fun day on the course where I cleared my head, found my caddy, and cleaned up in the winnings!
As we headed out to the car, I said to Jeffry, “Just think, this is just the beginning of many more fun dinners at Boca with our future winnings!” Jeffry made sure to make one more declaration: “You are going to sleep tonight, Veronica!” While I trusted that declaration would come to pass as well, I left knowing one thing for sure: I was going to use the rest of my winnings to get my hair highlighted!”
It was a spectacular day–and one wild golf story to add to my journey on the road to championship.
P.S. I had the best night sleep since moving into my apartment!
“And without faith it is impossible to please God. He who comes to God must believe He exists and is a rewarder of them that diligent seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6)