What is Serendipity?

A serendipitous event is one that is fortuitous, lucky, fortunate, even perhaps cosmically timed.

I was recently reminded of the interesting ways that serendipitous events can occur.  In our case, they created the silver lining in an otherwise dark cloud.

Travel Trailers and Fate

It started with re-roofing our travel trailer.  It was 16 years old and time to replace the rubber roof, along with all of the vents and skylights, and reseal the whole thing.  All of the supplies were on-hand and everything looked great!

Then came the fate part.

Way back in February of 2017 we had a major snowstorm here in NW Montana.  I called it Snowmaggedon because at our higher elevation we received four-plus feet of dense, wet snow over a period of a few days.

Greek Storyline Situations

Unfortunately, during this period I had to be 300 miles away due to my father’s severe medical condition, followed by his subsequent passing.  This wasn’t entirely unexpected given his age and health status, just untimely, as winters in Montana can be a handful.

Because I was away, nothing could be done to prevent the accumulation of heavy snow.

After I returned, it took 2-1/2 days to shovel out of the depths of snow from our driveway, roof and garage.  The snow levels were nearing each roof’s weight limit; and they were designed to handle a lot.

This process included shoveling off the roof of the poor travel trailer, which was never designed for any amount of heavy snow.

As usual, that spring the trailer was uncovered.  Although the roof had been caved in some (much more than I recognized at the time), everything appeared to operate (at least) adequately, and without binding.

First, the Dark Cloud

Fast forward to August of this year.

While working on the slide-out roof portion of the camper, we discovered that the 2017 snowstorm must have detached its rear wall from the floor.  This caused it not to properly seal on the rear wall when closed, which contributed to water damage to occur to the structural floorboard over the period of the next few years during the times that it remained uncovered, from spring into fall.

The detached rear wall also allowed the slide-out roof to lean backward enough when extended and retracted to permit it to open and close without otherwise binding to other trailer components.  This situation hid the extent of the real damage the 2017 snowstorm had caused.

After we made a temporary (safety) fix and reattached the rear wall of the slide-out to its floor, it was now aligned and situated as it was when it was manufactured.  It was at this point that we discovered that the slide-out roof now rubbed against the trailer roof opening because of the compression caused by the snowstorm (in our case, the rear vertical trailer wall and the trailer slide-out roof opening).

Again, it appears that this had been hidden all these years all because the slide-out angle had shifted outward due to the detached rear wall.

Insurance

Well, I immediately called the insurance company and reported this odd occurrence.  Since there was a great deal of time between the damage “event” and now, they had a lot of questions.  I explained, in detail, why the problem remained hidden for so long, yet they understandably had questions.

We still don’t know the status as of this writing, as the review process is still ongoing.

Things Are Not Always as They Appear

At this point I was truly dismayed, to say the least.  We were not prepared to repair or replace the camper right now.  In fact, up to this point we thought we’d be enjoying summer camping for the next 15 years once the roof was replaced.

The more I thought about it the more it bothered me, to the point where I realized I had to let this go.  There was nothing more I could do.

Past events in my life have shown me that what initially may have appeared to be unfortunate, sometimes tragic, often was our Higher Guidance and the Universe taking care of us.  It just doesn’t look like it at the time.

On more than one occasion, years after what I thought of at the time as a “bad” event, I found out that it mysteriously led to opportunities that would never have happened had that event not occurred.

What appeared to be a black cloud was really a silver lining and gift in disguise!

Surrender and the Silver Lining

I knew I had to surrender this to my High Self and the Divine – just let it go!

Our High Self, the Divine and the Universe know all the possible solutions to any situation.  We may not see or be aware of these answers, but they are there!

These solutions we seek are ready to flow inwardly upon us.  We just have to open up to our Higher Guidance and give the situation to our High Self and the Divine.  They have access to a myriad of possible solutions – any one of which would give us the happy resolution we seek!

Time and time again in my life, what initially looked like an unsurmountable problem or situation, was quickly solved like child’s play for my High Self and the Divine.  I just had to let it go.

I knew this, yet for a short period of time, I was back in patterns of my Low Self and subconscious programming and past life baggage.

Serendipity Revealed

My High Self advised me to read the chapter on Surrender in the book, The Illuminated Mind: A Step-by-Step Guide to Spiritual Discovery by Dr. June d’Estelle. 

After re-reading that chapter, I just let it all go, not realizing that my Low Self had been quietly holding on to this situation.  Just as Dr. d’Estelle advised, I visualized this situation, along with everything else, just going into the light and being dissolved.

Less than 10 minutes after doing that, two different departments of my insurance company called me, back-to-back, to share that they felt this insurance claim required extra explanation so that the reviewing department could adequately understand why there was a four-year delay from the initial trailer damage and discovering the extent of the damage.

Wow, that was fast!!

Timing and Synchronicity

The immediate response from the Universe and the Divine has happened this way before for me, and here it is happening the same way, again!

Just a day later during our monthly Shays’ Spiritual Insights Zoom session, one of the participants, Esther, mentioned how her life had been challenging.  After “surrendering” her situation to her Higher Guidance, she, too, found that answers to her challenges came as quickly as the problems.

Watch the Video!

I recommend watching the September 2021 Shays’ Spiritual Insights where Esther talked about how her life has become incredibly effortless since she welcomes the helpful hand of her Higher Guidance to show her the pathways to the solutions to her challenges.

All Is Well!

We have been reminded yet again that as long as we hold onto a problem, we own it.  Although our situation still remains in process, we know that the Divine can solve these types of circumstances.

Surrender works every time we truly let go and allow our Higher Guidance to show us the way!