I love to read God stories! My friend put this one on her Facebook page this morning. I asked for her permission to share. She graciously said, share away! It encouraged me and I think it will encourage you as well. It is a quick read:
My local grocery/gas station is ~ 1/4 mile from where I live and I knew it would be wise to get gas there due to discount points accumulated. (Gas price for 85 octane was $1.759/gal and I saved another 20 cents per gallon due to points. Wonderful and scary at the same time.) But before I got gas, I felt a “nudge” to go into the grocery which kind of puzzled me because I’d been there just recently and am blessed to have some basic necessities other than the nearly extinct creature we once knew as “toilet paper.”
As a result of venturing forth, I am now the proud owner of one the last packages of paper towels on planet Earth. Six whole rolls which I will saw in two to make twelve rolls of TP! Feeling triumphant, I almost left the store with that one item but still felt I somehow wasn’t finished. Suddenly it hit me —I remembered that I could make homemade hand sanitizer out of aloe and rubbing alcohol! But I needed aloe. When I arrived at the suntan lotion, etc., area, there stood a small woman of about 40, wearing blue nitrile gloves while clutching six boxes of gloves. She looked devastated. I said, “Bet you’re looking for aloe, maybe?” She nodded and I admitted my same mission. We were both creative thinkers but purely out of luck. We started talking and she spoke of how afraid she is. The moment she spoke her fear, I was acutely aware that I was not afraid.
And there it was—the moment God walked in and spoke through my mouth. I asked her about her faith; she answered, “About 50-50.” I said, “Pray anyway.” She said her mother had always told her that, and she’d never been really convinced. And she then said that if she did pray, God wouldn’t know who she was. The next part makes me teary as I type this, but I said, “God NEVER forgets who we are. He remembers every single one of us.” She began to cry, we exchanged names, and I told her I would pray for her. She reached towards me with her blue-gloved hand in a precious “I’d touch you if I could” gesture but we remained a few feet apart as is now the recommended “rule.”
She told me to go snag one of the remaining boxes of rubber gloves—she said there were only 4 boxes left but when I got there, there was one lone box. I left with a box of blue gloves, a six pack of paper towels, and an acute awareness of the “God moments” that so surround us. She left with six boxes of blue gloves (some for her, some for her brother), and an awareness that God is ruler over fear. Two strangers met, and where ever 2 or more are gathered…
And that is her story- an encouraging story for a time when encouragement is needed.
If you have a God story, I would love to hear it. Scroll down to the comments section and tell us briefly about it.
Anne Farnum 