Last Friday we headed out for an overnight stay to celebrate our 38 years of marriage. We arrived with a couple of hours to kill, so opted for some outlet shopping. We parked near the most likely stores we would visit and began. We had been on this seemingly spontaneous and rather random adventure for about an hour, when we discovered a little Frozen doll on the ground. Clark picked it up and I noticed it still had it's tag on it, so we assumed she had just been purchased. We continued on, passing up one of the stores I thought for sure we would go in to.
Then we realized there was a little girl ahead of us crying, probably about three or four years old. Occasionally she would stop and look at her knee. As the crowd kept moving around her I suddenly realized she was alone!
Still following her closely, I passed one store who was restricting numbers of shoppers I quickly said to the employee standing at the door, "Call Security, she's alone! Please call security quickly!" I realized I couldn't wait for security to arrive-I had to act NOW, I walked faster catching up to her and bending down I said, "Did you hurt yourself?" She said yes and I asked where is your Mom? She began to cry harder and said "I don't know." Clark held out the discarded doll and I asked her if it was hers, she looked confused and then looked at the empty bag she was carrying. And we all knew it was hers. I recognized the store it had come from, and thought to myself...hmmm that was one of the stores we passed that I thought I had wanted to go into...
I said "Come with me I think I know where your Mommy is" I turned around and we headed back- as I took her hand and made small talk with her. Suddenly I looked up and a very frantic woman was rushing towards us. She was obviously terrified, and embarrassed, and her tone was ready to give her daughter a total scolding, so I said to my little charge, "She's not mad at you, she's just very scared."
And that was all it took as this Mom folded her little girl into her arms and the damn of tears broke. She cuddled her daughter as tears streamed down her face. Then she looked at me and said, "Oh my gosh you are my angel today, thank you!" over and over as the tears continued to fall.
We both were kinda quiet as we walked away and then suddenly it hit us both at the same time, and we both said, "Apparently we were meant to be here for this little family today." While we thought we'd made this random decision, we had picked one store to go into, and suddenly we could see that everything we had done in those preceding hours lined up perfectly for us to be present to step into a terrifying, and potentially dangerous situation, literally becoming instruments in His hands.
We were His hands in those few moments.
He knew where we'd be and when.
He was also watching out for that little girl.
He was also answering fear-filled prayers of her Mother & Grandmother.
We quietly walked the remainder of the stores as we both pondered what had just happened. I could relate, I think losing a child in a public place is every parents worst nightmare. I thought back to the time we were in a Hotel with our Texas Mosses and Kenton ran ahead and jumped into the elevator as it closed. He was alone and we had no idea which floor he would get out on. I knew exactly what I had to do as I sprinted up one side of the building stairs and stuck my head out the stairwell door on every floor, until i reached the top floor...which was ours. He apparently knew which floor we were on and had even gone to our room and was found by a neighbor as Kenton knocking on our door-alone. And decided to stay with him til someone came!
I had been given a warning through a very vivid dream the night before and had been sick about the thought of losing Kenton. And while I couldn't have prevented his actions, I was prepared to think clearly about the plan of what I needed to do. And so I could act immediately.
This experience has continued to press upon my heart. I doubt I'll ever forget it. But again I marvel that we can be instruments in His hands whenever He needs us. I am always amazed when it happens though. It was such a simple thing. A simple kindness. But in comparison it may well have been the most important thing to that Mommy that day.
And it may have been the most important thing that day for me too.
We often talk about how we "Hear Him" and hearing Him does come in many different ways, the fact that we continue to try to Hear Him is very significant. Within 24 hours of this experience Clark then heard two divine directives about something completely new to us. He was listening. And He heard Him. What if we hadn't had the little girl experience, would Clark have been as willing to Hear Him? I'd like to think so, but we'll never know. But we do know that as we prepare ourselves to hear Him and then act upon these experiences we are blessed with more.
#Godisgood
#HearHim
#HappyAnniversarytous
#Iamproudofus
#Thejourneycontinues
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