May 16 - Cheryl & Donna

Day One Hundred & Thirty Six.

I arrived super early to our middle child's awards day because I wanted to get a good seat. Entirely pointless because I found out that this school lets you leave after your kid's class goes on stage. Anyway, I sat on the front row and saved a seat for my husband. A woman sat down on the other side of me. I can't remember exactly how we started talking but her name was Cheryl and she was there to see her daughter Lexie and her granddaughter (both in 3rd grade) get their awards. I dug a little deeper and it turns out that Cheryl's sister and brother in law recently died and Lexie needed someone to take care of her.

We talked a little more and I eventually asked her if I could pray. I asked God to provide for them financially, to comfort Cheryl in this season that she didn't see coming, and to stand against the plans that the enemy has to ruin this family through death and destruction. Cheryl asked me to pray specifically for Lexie this summer because it has only been two years since she lost her parents and it's a hard time to go through.

Later in the day, I was getting gas and Donna pulled up to the pump next to mine. She was dressed in business clothes and obviously on her lunch break. She was crying in her car and I walked over to ask what was wrong. She said "Thank you so much for coming over here." and she pulled out her electricity bill that is 2 days away from being disconnected.

My petty inner dialogue: Let me go ahead and stop you right here, Holy Spirit. Because YOU KNOW I do not have any money to give away. I cannot pay her bill. What if she is going to use the money for something else. I'VE GOT MY OWN BILLS TO PAY JESUS. I must look like a sucker and that's why this crying lady pulled up here. I look like I give away money as a hobby. That's what this is. I need to wear pajamas in public. Is someone robbing my car while I'm talking to her?

Wouldn't this story be beautiful if I was all "The Lord gave me an extra $200 and I just was so happy to bless this sweet lady with that money." That's not how this went down and I'm going to tell you why... because my heart doesn't default trust... like, anyone. I looked at her electricity bill. She pulled out her driver's license to prove that it was her bill... so I looked at that too. Sure enough, it all checked out. She had a booster seat in the back seat.

And here's the real truth. Y'all, God has been taking such good care of me lately. I mean the kind of care where I don't know how I'm going to keep breathing and somehow my body just works anyway. Or I can't step out of my darkness and then someone shows up to step in with me. In unexplained ways, and in ways that I still can't put words to, the Creator of the Universe has been faithfully crafting my every moment so that I am not just living... but thriving in a season of life that should have crushed me. And the lesson that I'm taking from this is that NO MATTER the circumstances I can trust that God will provide all my needs.

I could not have walked away from Donna today without sharing some of what God has provided for me. I couldn't have done it. I've come too far down this road with Him and now I know that coincidental meetings are never coincidences. He is genuinely, for really real, placing regular old me in circumstances that will show who He is.

Donna and I prayed together. I told her how special He thinks she is. That if she even knew the history of the last few months that have led up to her driving to my gas pump she could see how carefully He plans ahead for her needs. I mean she was crying, I was crying. It was a scene.