At the first of last year God started speaking to me about giving me my heart's desires. This excited me because I have been given promises from God that I am still waiting to see happen! If you know me, you know that I get excited about everything and especially if it is something that God has spoken to my heart about!
Fast forward to February, on a Wednesday night, I was laying in bed watching American Idol and a commercial came on saying, "You can win a trip to watch the American Idol finale!" I was the only person in the house and I said, (without thinking) "Lord, I would like to win that!" Not giving it another thought and not even finding out on how to enter the contest.
Fast forward a few weeks later on a Wednesday afternoon in March and I get this phone call. "Hello! Is this Shanin?"
"Yes, it is," I replied.
"Congratulations you are one of the final contestants to win a trip to the American Idol Finale!"
I was skeptical. I asked the man, "Tell me more about this because I don't think that I have entered any contest." He went on to explain that I had entered my name in a drawing at McDonald's and they had drawn my name, from one of the locations. All I had to do was show up to the KMVT Television Studio in Twin Falls on Friday at 6:20 am for a trivia contest where one of the eight contestants chosen, would win.
This made me even more skeptical because I had not been to a McDonald's in probably a year. I then asked, "Well, since I do not eat at McDonald's I find this hard to believe." He went on to tell me that someone had to have entered my name because he had all of my information on the entry form that they had drawn from McDonalds. I asked a few more questions and told him thank you and hung up. I then called my son James and asked him if he had entered my name and he said no but maybe Kaylin had entered my name. I then talked to Kaylin and she said, "Yes, while I was waiting in line for my order I saw the contest box and your name came to mind so I entered you!" Mystery solved.
Later that evening I was still trying to make up my mind if I would even go or not, concerned about making myself look foolish on television, by not being to answer a simple trivia question that everyone else would probably know! That evening we had an appointment to go look at a building that we were considering to rent for Easter Sunday Service. While looking at this building, I was telling my friend, Sarah about the whole phone call, kind of laughing about it, when all of a sudden the Lord showed me sitting in my bed and saying, "Lord, I would like to win that!" and He told me, "What if I wanted to bless you with this trip?" I got all quiet and looked at Sarah and sayed, "Oh Sarah, I think that God may be trying to bless me with this trip, and if He is, I have to do my part and go." I filled her in on what just had happened and she kind of laughed at me. I get that a lot.
This left me just Thursday to study. My son James, got excited and started drilling me on my trivia. I had to learn twelve years of A.I. trivia over night! I studied in my bathtub and then got up early to drive to Twin. It was a 45 minute drive so this meant that I needed to leave at around 5:15 am to make sure that I had time to go over my notes before going on the show. The whole time I was praying asking God to help me and then I would add, if there is any possiblility Lord, please have them just draw our names or anything that isn't trivia where I make a fool of myself!
I arrived at 6:00 with twenty minutes to spare and study. Soon enough 6:15 came and I headed into the studio. I met with one lady and chatted for a few minutes before being ushered into the "green room." I met three other people in the "green room" who were contestants. Soon one of the managers came into the room and told us that only four people had showed up. This excited me a little on the inside because I thought, "Lord, this gives me 25% chance of winning! Please, if there is anyway of letting it not be a trivia game."
The guy had left and then returned saying, "We have deicided that since only half of you showed up, out of fear of the trivia, we are going to switch it up and just hide a ticket in four treat bags and you can choose one of the bags and whoever has the winning ticket will win!"
Oh my goodness! I was getting even more excited on the inside! I remember then praying silently, "Lord, could you please just have them hand me the bag so that I won't make the mistake of second guessing which bag I should choose?"
The guy came back again, "We have decided that one person will hide the ticket in the goody bag and then another will come in and mix them up and then a third person will come in and get the bags and hand you each a bag."
Okay now I am really excited! "Lord, I think that You are really going to give this to me!" We are called to our places and they count down to air time. They do a little mini interview with each one of us, asking us how and where we entered and who would we take on the trip if we were to win. I told them that I didn't even enter but my sweet daughter-in-love, Kaylin, entered me. They asked a few more questions and then it was time...they handed us each a bag and they counted, one two three, go! I ripped into my bag pulling out shirts, and chapstick and pencils and then I felt it! It was THE TICKET! I pulled it out and yelled, "I'm going to Hollywood!" The lady standing next to me hugged me and I was jumping up and down! They stuck a microphone in my face and asked me to say something. I exclaimed, "Thank You Jesus and thank you Kaylin! I'm going to Hollywood!" Soon they went to commercial and continued their regular morning news program and the other contestants left.
They asked me to stick around to film a couple of commercials for them to air. The guy tells me that they were so glad that I got the winning ticket because I "had good energy." I laughed and told them it was a present from God to me! I am sure that he laughed at me...I get that a lot:)
I was so excited! When I returned to the green room, where I had left my puse and phone, there were several messages from James and Kaylin celebrating what they witnessed live on television! I returned their calls and they answered yelling, "You Won! YOU WON!" we continued for a few minutes laughing and celebrating. I then called my sweet husband and told him that I won! He said, "You won what?"
I answered, "I won the trip! We're going to Hollywood!" The celebration didn't end with that phone call. I continued calling each of my kids sharing the great news and then when I finally returned home we told anyone and everyone who would listen and even those who could have cared less! I was so excited that God blessed me with something so frivolous but something that I had whispered to Him that no one else could have possibly known, only God knew. And that blessing was just the beginning.
Come back tomorrow for Shiny Blessings Part Two.
Shanin
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