Evangelist
Long story but REALLY good one!
So… Money has been a little tight around here lately. And by tight I mean REALLY tight. Anyway, we needed groceries. We’re trying to commit to a healthy lifestyle and just swinging it on the beans and pasta that’s sitting around isn’t quite what we had pictured. I had made a meal plan and coinciding grocery list. Eric paid bills and looked at what money was left. My grocery list included lots of fresh produce, diapers and wipes, salmon, two different kinds of fancy flour, and lots of other stuff. Eric’s budget for groceries consisted of ninety dollars. Yes. $90.00. Sigh. Obviously not enough. SO. What was a girl to do? Take stuff off the list? Nah.
Eric and I decided to pray. We set our grocery list on the counter with the money on top of it and prayed. We told the money that in the name of Jesus Christ it would buy all of our groceries. We put our hands on it and told it that it needed to submit to us because of the authority that Jesus Christ has given us in His name. This is all a little new for us but we know that in the Bible we need to believe, confess, then receive. We need to engage our faith and declare the miracle. OK. Done and done. Both the faith part and the speaking part were difficult. I always asked God for things but never told things what to do in the name of Jesus Christ. So I didn’t ask. I told. I believed that it was God’s will for us to buy those groceries and I believed that God wanted to show how awesome He is by working a miracle for us. We prayed and I went to the grocery store armed with list and calculator.
I started shopping and was pretty pumped when I got through most of the produce and the numbers hadn’t gotten too huge. I fought off discouragement as I shopped more and saw the numbers jumping. Fast. At one point I was walking through the liquor aisle and saw a guy and a girl (maybe boyfriend and girlfriend but I don’t know). They had a frozen pizza and chips and were buying liquor. I thought for a second while watching them and realized that I’m so glad I’m not there anymore. (This is by no means judging their purchases… I have purchased all of those things in the last several months or so). I’m just glad. I love where my life is and the journey from the broken girl that I once was to the healed woman that I am today. Not that I have already achieved the goal but I’m walking with the Holy Spirit now and it’s incredible. I just reflected. Not really about them but just about me. I kept walking. The Holy Spirit practically yanked my head around to look at them again and I whispered ‘Jesus loves you.’ under my breath in their direction. ‘Cause that’s good enough right? Oh boy. I knew what was coming. They turned the opposite corner and I cruised up the other end of the store to talk to them. But I was really hoping they’d just vaporize or something so I didn’t actually have to talk to them. (Nice Nicole… Believing for a miracle but you don’t even want to tell someone that Jesus loves them?) So I saw them up front in produce and started in their direction. I felt like God wanted me to tell the guy the message but didn’t feel like it was for the girl. I figured I’d just say it to both of them. As I got closer the girl walked away to another area to get something else. Sigh. OK. “Um, excuse me?” “Yeah?” “Uh, well… Um, I know this sounds crazy but, um, like, well… (face gets progressively hotter and redder throughout entire conversation) I was shopping and praying and like, God told me that He wanted me to tell you something that He had to say to you and, um, He, like, wanted me to tell you that He loves you very much and that whatever you’re going through right now, you’re safe and you’re going to be OK. Whatever that means for you. So, um, well, I hope that meant something.” (genuinely) “Thank you.” “Yeah, uh…, bye.” (get away as fast as possible). O boy.
I keep shopping and putting all the stuff from my list in my cart. Applesauce wasn’t on my list but I grabbed it anyway. At one point I hit equals and not the addition sign and lost my calculator total. I guessed where I was but didn’t really know. And I didn’t have a price for my zucchini. And it still looked like I was going over. But I kept faith and didn’t think about what I would put back if I went over. At the checkout I saved the applesauce for last. I didn’t have enough for the applesauce. I got EVERYTHING on my list for $88.81. That’s $1.19 to spare. A dollar and nineteen cents. A dollar and nineteen cents to spare. And I got everything on the list and even organic fruits and milk and jam. And I got the $4 tortilla wraps I like. And salmon. God did a miracle for me and He deserved at the very least a shout out. So as I was paying I told the clerk and the lady behind me in line that money has been tight and we prayed over our money and I could only spend $90 and I hit $88.81 and the lady said good job and I said I didn’t do it, God did. We prayed and it happened. The guy didn’t seem to be a Christian and sort of poo-pooed it. He said you got some fish and bread. You didn’t think you could get a loaf of bread and some fish for ninety bucks? I left the store praising Jesus and in my car realized what the cashier had said. A loaf of bread and some fish. Jesus sorta has a history going with the bread and fish miracles. I hadn’t even mentioned the bread to that guy. That’s just what he saw. Praise the Lord. My God is mighty and awesome. He cares about my groceries. He cares about that cashier. He cares about you. He cares about the details of our lives. Every ninety dollar detail.
Grocery store evangelist? I never would have thought so but maybe that is my mission field. Recently I’ve been praying that God would start to provide the finances and put people in front of me at the grocery store who need their groceries paid for. I guess God really does care that even this busy stay at home mom gets to share her love for Jesus.
