777

SALtoshi Whitepaper #208

Fellow humans,

God puts us in different seasons. Sometimes I feel so inspired by the Holy Spirit that I’ll approach any stranger in the wild and enthusiastically tell them “JESUS SAVES! BELIEVE IN JESUS!” then other times I feel so down that I’d much rather someone approach me and say those things to lift me up.

Last Monday, I found a new feature in my banking app that displays my credit score. I noticed that my score was 777, which is cool because triple sevens is typically a sign of good luck. Then about an hour later, I was watching the Official Preview for the Shawn Ryan Show featuring Dr. Dan Schneider—an expert in spiritual warfare—something I’ve been focused on lately. During the preview, an image of 777 flashed on the screen.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t believe in coincidence, especially something this unique. I did a quick search about the potential spiritual meaning of 777. The moment I realized how positive and validating triple sevens could be, I was overwhelmed with gratitude and felt the presence and blessing of God. You might be rolling your eyes, but try to understand where I’m coming from.

For the past year, I’ve been working hard to be disciplined in my walk with Christ. I’ve finally found the strength and courage to turn away from my favorite sin, and I believe that’s the cause for my recently accelerated spiritual growth. If God punishes His children for disobedience, why wouldn’t the opposite be true? Why wouldn’t He reward us for obedience? It’s pretty straight-forward.

However, just because we do the right thing does not always mean that we feel validated by the Most High. Like I said, God puts us in different seasons, and sometimes I feel low for no apparent reason. I do believe God communicates with us always, so sometimes we need to pay very close attention to our surroundings and ourselves in order to notice a potential sign.

I was reinvented by the military as someone who puts his head down and drives forward, without much focus on results. Regarding my faith—most of the time I’m not actually thinking about results or progress—because I’m just doing. However, when triple sevens appeared twice in one morning and I read the search results, I felt like I was being validated by God in a relatively clear way.

Reading “spiritual alignment” was like receiving a text from God, saying “you’ve been doing exactly what I’ve asked of you,” which makes sense because as soon as I took a moment to analyze my life, I couldn’t find a reason to disagree.

Then reading “completeness” was further confirmation because I felt like that was God’s way of saying that my spiritual foundation is finally complete, which means that now I can move into more advanced spiritual growth.

Many people probably wouldn’t look this deeply into something like this, but the military also taught me the importance of “attention to detail.” It’s not like God stops by my house once a month to debrief me on my faith and lifestyle, so I’m open-minded regarding the ways in which He might be trying to communicate.

In some sense, an argument cannot be made that God is not behind the triple sevens, because God is behind everything. Literally nothing happens without His blessing or permission. Plus, I’ve been aligned with Him!

I think if I train myself to pay more attention to life’s granular details, then I would most likely find God’s messages in a lot more places. As a result, I would have a lot more answers to some of life’s most essential questions.

We’re all looking for answers and purpose. Some seasons don’t make sense while some do. Just understand that as a follower of Jesus, no pain is forever and someday we’ll leave this chaotic world and be in His presence for eternity.

Until next time,

Salvatore Norge

59.42 mile bicycle ride with the homies