God Moments

So. Sometimes I will get into my prayer life, but normally I don’t openly share about if it is personal. But! I will talk about ‘God Moments’ — where there was such a beautiful, out of the ordinary moment, where there was nothing to do but give the glory to God.

So I have three God Moments that I would like to share:

1. Gnocchi Soup

So my sister Megan got sick and so we decided to make soup for dinner. She really wanted chicken and dumplings. BUT…unfortunately…I have been trying to be… gluten-free. I really wanted to have a cheat day for chicken and dumplings, but I couldn’t do it. So we decided on chicken and gnocchi which is actually a great compromise. So we went to Aldi. Megan reassured me that we would surely find gnocchi. So we go down the pasta aisle. Hmm we must‘ve missed the gnocchi. We scanned the shelves again. What? How did we miss it? We look a third time. Okay, what the heck. So we now look through all the aisles. NO GNOCCHI!! Depressing because once we got the compromise, we were so excited.

I also, try to eat dairy-free as much as I can, but I went to the dessert freezer section to torture myself. And, lo and behold, there was frozen gnocchi in the dessert section. BUT this wasn’t just any other gnocchi, it was Christmas gnocchi in the shape of white stars and green Christmas trees. It was the happiest thing I ever saw!!

So that night, we made the cutest little soup ever. Try to look at this without smiling...you can’t, can you?

Now, I consider this a ‘God Moment.’ God understood this desire of my heart and said “you know, I love you so much, that I am going to exceed your expectations. You just have to have a little patience.”

2. Homeless Lady

I had my first experience at a train station in D.C. Many people were warning me about the various people at train stations. I have never been worried about other people and just have an innate sense (sometimes gets me into trouble) that all people desire to do good.

As a young female, alone in the train station, I became aware of my naivety as I wanted to console the old homeless man laying and crying, or the security guard yelling at me about my ignorance of COVID as I sit there eating without a mask (to me, that sounded like the most effective way to eat), or the pregnant woman who wanted help. Now, she sparked my interest, and I felt the courage to intervene. I have never believed in giving money, so I offered my lunch. I also wanted to offer help elsewhere -- prayer.

Two months ago, I wouldn’t have had the courage to pray with her, but I asked her if I could pray with her and for her baby. And she was more than grateful. Praise God for the courage he gave me! It is not my doing, but God’s.

3. Bigger and Better

So I have been doing online ministry with my team and we were given an online ministry project -- to approach a stranger with a paperclip and to trade it with something that is ‘bigger and better.’ Then, with the new object, you continue the chain until you are satisfied. I have heard stories from my friend Elijah who takes this game to the next level and with his charisma, he traded and got a folding chair, then a Cracker Barrel rocking chair, then a shop vacuum, the a flag that flew over the Capital, then a legit car with a door ripped off!

Now, I am not that good. Maybe I am just being modest, but so far I have not done too great. I started with a paperclip and met my girl Keena at the gas station. She was a hoot! We had some great conversations that all started with a paperclip. I told her about my ministries and gave her my quick testimony. The whole time she was digging through her purse trying to find something she was willing to trade. And I ended up with a broken pen. Yep, Elijah gets a Cracker Barrel rocking chair and I get a broken pen. Some have argued whether or not it is actually an upgrade.

I took that broken pen to Walmart where I met Riley. She was carrying a backpack so I knew she had to have something. I introduced myself and my mission and she offered me a rainbow scrunchie. Then we stood there and chatted for a bit.

And sadly, that is all I ended up with. But it doesn’t matter what I got because I was able to spread God’s love by simply talking to strangers and in the end, we both left the conversation smiling, feeling more confident, and energized.

So this is the small progression: