Last night a bunch of me and my friends got together to start beth moore's bible study "Stepping Up." It has been fun to be able to really get to know these girls and learn more about the Lord with them... before we started last night some of the girls gave prayer requests and one of the girls shared an awesome testimony she had heard from another lady from our church... I will try to tell is as best I can (just remember I am re-telling this so forgive me if I get some of the details wrong--you will still see the greater story!!)
The woman at the center of this story and her husband are some of the most kind, caring, and giving people I have ever met. I do not know them very well, however her husband ministers in the bus ministry with my family. This family is know for taking in many foster children and also attempting to adopt some of them. My friend had brought this woman up for prayer because one of the little girls they were in the process to adopt, was given back to her "father" who had been clean from herion for only 20 days!! Also this week a girl who she had taken in in the past had been killed in a car accident... needless to say this woman could use a lot of prayer... but now for an awesome testimony..
... One day this woman went grocery shopping at a store that was close to their home. As she was walking in the door she saw a woman coming into the store with a bunch of kids. As they walked in the mother told the children they could all pick out one treat and put it in the cart. (They don't live in a very good area of town so the people shopping here would mostly be on welfare or living close to poverty...) As the children were picking out their treats their mother started to panick. She took out her calculator and began to get flustered as she began to add up the total knowing that she was short on funds....as she got flustered she began to start yelling at the children making them put back some of the things they were picking up. The woman from my church had observed the situation from the beginning when the mother wanted to treat her children to her change of attitude when she became stressed that she didnt have the money to fulfill her promise (we've all been there, eh?)
... Both groups of people finished their shopping and headed to the check out line. The woman and her children were next in line, but the line curved and the woman from my chuch didnt see the curve and got in line. The mother of the children thought she was trying to cut her and began to scream and cuss at her asking why she thought she could cut, what did she think she was doing, $@#!, etc. Now this woman is very sweet, meek, and humble--she apoligized kept her attitude under control (that would be VERY hard for me to do I think!!!) and went to the back of the line... the mother rang up all her groceries only, swiped her Foodstamp card, only for the clerk to say loudly and obnoxiously "YOU DONT HAVE ENOUGH FOR ALL OF THIS!" Flustered the woman tried to put some things back when the clerk repeated "YOU STILL DO NOT HAVE ENOUGH." From the back of the line, the woman from my church went right up, swiped her debit card and payed for the woman's (who just cussed her out) groceries!!!!
The mother was stunned!!! She began to ask how she could do that after how she had just treated her. The woman responded saying "I had a little extra money this month and I just wanted to be a blessing to you." she also had the opportunity to explain that Jesus loves and blesses us even though we may not think we deserve it!!! WHAT AN AWESOME EXAMPLE... BUT IT GETS BETTER!!!!
2 weeks later the woman from church visited the same grocery store... she picked out everything, got in line to pay, swiped her debit card, and the clerk said "Sorry but your card is denied!!!" The woman was stunned... it wasn't possible, they definetely had enough, it must have been a misunderstanding... She tried again... DENIED!?!?!? Then, from behind her, a man came up, swiped his debit card, and said I just wanted to be a blessing to you today!!!!!!!!!!
DOES THAT GIVE YOU THE GOOSEBUMPS OR WHAT????????????????????
I hope the woman doesn't mind that I re-told her story, but how could I not??? I was so moved by that! How can you hear stories like this and not KNOW that God is SO REAL! I can think of many stories like this that I have heard over the years and they can never get old!! There are so many things we can learn from this, but I just wanted to bless you all because I was SO incredibly blessed by this testimony!!
Hopefully this post wasnt toooooooooo looooooooooooonggggggg but I know it was WORTH IT!!! Just remember to keep her family in prayer!!!
Until next post,
2 comments:
That was definately worth the long read. It did give me goosbumps! What an example she was...I'm sure I would have reacted much differently, I'm ashamed to say!
Wow! That was an awesome testimony! Made me get a lump in my throat! Thanks for sharing that!
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