Hope In A Happy Meal
Tonight I took my daughter, her best friend and my Great Niece and Nephew to McDonald's to play. I walked into the Play Place and saw a man working on a computer and thought, "Darn, they have Wi-Fi... I coulda brought my computer and played on facebook a little!" But I missed that boat. So, I sat down and watched the kids play. Getting bored, I remembered I had a New Testament in my purse so I pulled it out to read my bible. Reading around in Philippians, my eye caught an underlined verse. "Being confident of this, that he who began the good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."
I looked up and saw a young lady sitting at a table across from me rubbing her forehead and looking like she was in great pain. Being a migraine sufferer, I called her attention, "Miss, miss... are you okay?" She came over by me which I did not expect. She began to tell me that she suffered from a viral skin disease called Mersa. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methicillin-resistant_Staphylococcus_aureus She told me that it caused her great pain and she had surgery for it but she was afraid it was returning. I noticed the scar between her eyebrows. She said the pain was greater than labor. I agreed heartily and shared with her how I had scratched my eye once and I felt that hurt far worse than labor, having gone through 84 hours of it myself. I offered her some ibuprofen which she gladly accepted.
Then she began to share much of her life with me. She was there with her only little girl and told me that the little girl's daddy was just sent to jail and now she was alone with her daughter and wasn't sure how she was going to cope. She was worried about how she was going to explain it to her once she noticed her daddy was gone. Her own mother had kicked her out when she was young and she never wanted to raise her little girl in a broken home. She said she felt quite alone knowing that her boyfriend wouldn't be around. She apologized for sharing so much with me and I told her it was okay. She showed me some pictures she had just developed and we talked a bit more. She was almost in tears through most of it. We exchanged names and I couldn't get over how very much she looked like one of my nieces. After talking with this lady I later asked my daughter, "who did that lady look like to you?" and Holly answered right away, the exact niece I was thinking of.
It was time for me to leave and I said goodbye and that I would pray for things to go well. She thanked me profusely for listening to her. She gave me a brief hug and as our cheeks touched, I remember being self conscious of the skin disease she had just mentioned and silently asked God to forgive and help me. I got the kids all bundled up and we got in the car and started driving out of the parking lot.
I cried out to God in my heart, "Lord, WHAT am I supposed to do about this?? I KNOW I can't fix this woman's brokenness, only YOU can!! Did I do what I was supposed to do Father? Did she just need an ear and a sympathetic look?" I prayed for her. Then I just turned the van around. I asked the big girls to look after the little kids for a minute cause I had to run back into McDonald's. I ran back into the play-place and called the woman by name, she looked up and I said, "I have the kids in the car, but I wanted to give you my phone number in case you just need someone to talk to." She took the card and said, "thank you SO much, you don't know what this means to me." She started crying and gave me a great big hug. I was crying a bit too and this time didn't care quite so much about my skin. I told her goodbye and said, "Jesus bless you sweetie." and left.
I drove away with tears in my eyes and began to set my mind on the worries about how I may be having to set boundaries and what this might possibly mean... I am a selfish human. But I would like to help if I can. More prayer. The woman talked in our conversation about God looking out for her. I take rest in the fact that I am not and never will be able to fix another human being. If in fact God is at work in her heart, then I will trust in what I read tonight, "Being confident of this, that HE who began the good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." I remembered, it's not my job to worry about it. Jesus can even use a selfish human like me.
I looked up and saw a young lady sitting at a table across from me rubbing her forehead and looking like she was in great pain. Being a migraine sufferer, I called her attention, "Miss, miss... are you okay?" She came over by me which I did not expect. She began to tell me that she suffered from a viral skin disease called Mersa. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methicillin-resistant_Staphylococcus_aureus She told me that it caused her great pain and she had surgery for it but she was afraid it was returning. I noticed the scar between her eyebrows. She said the pain was greater than labor. I agreed heartily and shared with her how I had scratched my eye once and I felt that hurt far worse than labor, having gone through 84 hours of it myself. I offered her some ibuprofen which she gladly accepted.
Then she began to share much of her life with me. She was there with her only little girl and told me that the little girl's daddy was just sent to jail and now she was alone with her daughter and wasn't sure how she was going to cope. She was worried about how she was going to explain it to her once she noticed her daddy was gone. Her own mother had kicked her out when she was young and she never wanted to raise her little girl in a broken home. She said she felt quite alone knowing that her boyfriend wouldn't be around. She apologized for sharing so much with me and I told her it was okay. She showed me some pictures she had just developed and we talked a bit more. She was almost in tears through most of it. We exchanged names and I couldn't get over how very much she looked like one of my nieces. After talking with this lady I later asked my daughter, "who did that lady look like to you?" and Holly answered right away, the exact niece I was thinking of.
It was time for me to leave and I said goodbye and that I would pray for things to go well. She thanked me profusely for listening to her. She gave me a brief hug and as our cheeks touched, I remember being self conscious of the skin disease she had just mentioned and silently asked God to forgive and help me. I got the kids all bundled up and we got in the car and started driving out of the parking lot.
I cried out to God in my heart, "Lord, WHAT am I supposed to do about this?? I KNOW I can't fix this woman's brokenness, only YOU can!! Did I do what I was supposed to do Father? Did she just need an ear and a sympathetic look?" I prayed for her. Then I just turned the van around. I asked the big girls to look after the little kids for a minute cause I had to run back into McDonald's. I ran back into the play-place and called the woman by name, she looked up and I said, "I have the kids in the car, but I wanted to give you my phone number in case you just need someone to talk to." She took the card and said, "thank you SO much, you don't know what this means to me." She started crying and gave me a great big hug. I was crying a bit too and this time didn't care quite so much about my skin. I told her goodbye and said, "Jesus bless you sweetie." and left.
I drove away with tears in my eyes and began to set my mind on the worries about how I may be having to set boundaries and what this might possibly mean... I am a selfish human. But I would like to help if I can. More prayer. The woman talked in our conversation about God looking out for her. I take rest in the fact that I am not and never will be able to fix another human being. If in fact God is at work in her heart, then I will trust in what I read tonight, "Being confident of this, that HE who began the good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." I remembered, it's not my job to worry about it. Jesus can even use a selfish human like me.
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