The smell of God

I am a believer, I am unashamed, I believe & trust in God, I truly whole heartily believe and that's that. I have always believed with my head but I am ashamed to say not always with my heart. There was a time that I gave very little thought to God, fortunately for me He was thinking of me. One of my more recent clear experiences of feeling God happened while I was driving home from a painful fact finding mission. You know the song Jesus Take the Wheel ? well that night he had to have because I certainly wasn't in control. It was a long drive and I was numb from what I had secretly witnessed, I wasn't thinking, I wasn't paying attention, I wasn't doing anything. My cell phone rang but I didn't answer it, nothing could shake me from that numbness. Then I smelled my Grandmother, who has passed away a few years before, just as if she was sitting beside me. I turned my head and looked, of course, the passenger seat was empty, but I smelled her, strongly. I didn't just smell her beautiful smell, I smelled all the things that meant her. Chicken and dumplings cooking, pound cake, the marsh, the ocean, scrapple and eggs frying & bayberry candles. All these smells came rushing at me and I felt such peace and so loved. God knew exactly what I needed to snap me out of that nothingness and he sent her to me. Even my youngest son has said at times " Oh I smell Mom-Mom Eva " and it's not always a smell of her but smells that mean her and to me she always meant home. I have had that experience numerous times and each time it fills me with peace and love.
More recently I had an experience with wildlife that left me in awe. Friends were here visiting, this was a couple that knew me as part of a couple they had never known me as just me. I went to the condo that they were staying at we had great fun, not awkward at all they are lovely people. Still when I left to go home I was feeling sad, not because of anything that was said or done just sad because of how changed things were. It was very late and I was driving down a lonely stretch of road and on the shoulder I saw what I thought at first was a dog, a German Shepherd. I slowed for fear it would dart out into the road, it stopped on the shoulder, I pulled over. I could clearly see that it was not a dog, my head lights shone right on the animal, I thought possibly a coyote. It at first had it's back to me so I could see from the tail it was not a dog, it's tail was more plumed like a paint brush and not held downward but straight out behind it, it was reddish in color. As I crept the car along the shoulder to get closer the animal looked at me over it's shoulder, I was not more than 10 feet from it. Then he did the strangest thing he turned completely around and faced me full on, we sat there he and I staring straight into each others face, for what seemed like an eternity, then he threw his head up in the air gave a yip and darted off into the tree line and was gone. When we were looking directly into each others face it was then that I saw he may have been a red wolf. I drove the rest of the way home peaceful but excited. I searched on the computer for coyote or red wolf sightings in this area and both have been seen. Then I read an Indian saying that says if you come face to face with a coyote and he looks you in the eye you have been blessed. I certainly felt blessed no more feelings of sadness but feelings of faith and hope. So I really don't know what it was that I saw that night but whatever it was he and I were both there at that exact moment for a reason. I will never believe it was coincidence, I was feeling weak and that experience gave me strength, I believe that was God's doing and I am grateful.