All Good News

It was a cloudy Friday afternoon in Roswell, a suburb north of Atlanta. I had just picked up my three children ages 5, 7, and 11 from their summer camp program and we were headed over to my mothers house for our usually "Friday night take out dinners." I always take Riverside Dr to get to my mothers house because the traffic on Holcomb Bridge Rd. is a beast after 5PM. But I actually like taking Riverside Dr. because it is a tree lined winding road that runs along the Chattahoochee River. Anyway, getting back to the story, this Friday afternoon route was nothing out of the ordinary until we went under the GA-400 overpass and I looked over at the people fishing of the docks. My first thought was "stop by the river, you have had a long week." It was true, my week had been filled with worry and agony over finding additional sources of income. I have been searching high and low for a part-time job this past week, only to schedule an interview for CVS nearly six weeks away when I need money today. So I get about a half mile down the road and made a U-turn. My kids are in shock yelling "where are we going?" I told them we are going to the river for a few minutes. I just wanted to sit somewhere for at least 5 minutes where I was not bothered by the real world, despite the sounds of cars and trucks on the overpass above. There were people around but everyone was in a state of peace so it was almost like being there alone. My kids ran ahead of me to gather rocks to throw into the river. I noticed a woman who appeared to be a bag lady sitting on a park bench reading a book. I said "hello" and thought nothing else of her. I went to sit on the dock bench and watched the river flow downstream as my kids tossed rocks into the water. Out of nowhere, the bag lady approached me, scaring the living day lights out of me because she approached me in a "cat-like" manner, very sneaky like. She says these words "how are you doing today?" I respond with a simple "good and you?" She tells me that she is doing well and proceeds to ask me if I have accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. I respond again with "yes I have but I sometimes find it hard to stay focused on Jesus Christ with all of the chaos and turmoil going on in the world around us." She tells me to continue to pray and know that God will take care of me. She spoke to my children, told me how cute they were, and then she walked away. My initial thought was "thank God she didn't try to pass on one of those Watchtower books to me and try to get me to become a Jehovah's Witness; no disrespect to Jehovah's Witness. Anyway, I continued to look out over the river and listening to the cars on the overpass, pretending I am on an island in the Caribbean with seagulls flying by and waves crashing onto shore. I open my eyes seconds later and realize that my 5-year-old had drifted away and she was lurking around the bench where the woman was sitting. Forgive me but there are a lot of people with bad intentions on this Earth so I had to be conscious of that. I yelled for my daughter to come back at once, I had no clue who this woman was or what she wanted, as nice as she appeared I still had to be cautious. My daughter ran back to me and the woman got up and followed behind her. She apologized and said "I don't want to make trouble, I just wanted to offer her some peanuts if that's okay with you." I told the woman no thanks and she left again. I continued to watch the flowing river and my children play. We eventually got up and left. I packed my kids in the car, got in a made sure everyone was buckled up. I threw the car into reverse and started to pull out of my parking spot. A I was putting the car into drive, the woman again appeared out of nowhere and started to bang on the rear driver side window. Once again, she frightened the living daylights out of me. I cracked my window and she asked me "my spirit spoke to me and told me to ask you if you are going through financial trouble?" Of course I am, I needed money yesterday. I was so startled by her question that I couldn't even lie, I said yes. She told me "read your word, read it everyday, read your word and God will bless you, read your word, have a blessed day." I was spiritually frozen for about 30 minutes or so. I had spent 90 minutes of my lunch break earlier that day with my husband trying to come up with $163 to have our rent paid in full after being 14 days late. I went home and reflected on that entire 45 minutes I spent at the river. I read the God's word like she suggested, over and over and over again. I listened to Joel Osteen and read his word again and again. The next morning (Saturday morning) my landlord called my husband and told him not to worry about the $163 late fee this time. She told us to just give her the usual $1000.00 and she will allow us to make arrangements on the late fee next month. How mysterious is God? This woman whom I have never met and I don't even know her name, has sent a blessing to my family. She didn't ask for money, she didn't highlight any specific biblical quotes for me, and she has blessed us. I promise I will continue to pray from this day forth. To believe that God is stronger than ever. I will listen to God when he speaks to me like I did that day when he told me to go back to the river. I am no longer obsessed with finding a part-time job, if it is meant for me to have one, then so be it. I will no longer try to come up with my own solutions, I will do whatever it is that God tells me. My way is not God's way. My plan is written and God is the author. Follow God and you will succeed. No man can ever defy a greater power. Name it, claim it, declare that it is true. Jesus saved my life.