"By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another"
-John 13:35
I was at the checkout lane at the grocery store waiting for the moment to swipe my card.
As I was waiting, I envisioned the HUGE SALAD I was going to prepare for lunch.
Kale, tomatoes, onions, green peppers..scallions..
"ma'am, ma'am!"
I was startled.
"It's going to be $40" said the cashier
(it was something around that amount)
"Okay." I said as I swiped my card.
I noticed the cashier kept making a strange face at the screen. Well, her eyes told me she was making a strange face...
I looked down at the pinpad and it said "TRANSACTION DECLIED."
"Huh?" I thought.
I looked behind me and there was a woman in line observing me. She wasn't too close since we have to follow the social distancing rule, but she was close enough to see what was happening.
I tried one more time since my husband told me there was money on the card.
As I swiped again, I noticed the pinpad said "TRANSACTION APPROVED!"
YES! HUGE SALAD HERE I COME!
"Sorry ma'am, your card only covered a portion of the groceries." The cashier said.
"You still owe $18 and it seems like you don't have enough"
I was confused.
I asked her if I could call my husband real fast so that he could check it out.
The cashier called a manager.
As I was on the phone with my husband, the woman that was standing behind me in line approached me, completely ignoring the social distancing rule and told me, "Here, I'll pay the rest for you."
I was surprised! Was what I was hearing true?
"Are you sure?" I asked.
(That was $18 she was willing to pay for a complete stranger)
"Yes, it's no problem :)" she said. I couldn't tell if she was smiling because she was wearing a face mask but her eyes told me she was.
The cashier's eyes seemed shocked to see that the woman got so close to me.
The woman went ahead and swiped her card and the manager had already gotten there, just observing the situation.
I stared at the manager and the cashier, both whom were wearing face masks. Again, I couldn't see their mouths, but at the moment, their eyes told me that they were also smiling.
TRANSACTION APPROVED.
"Thank you so much," I said, "God bless you!"
As I grabbed my bags and started heading out, I realized my husband was still on the phone!
"Babe, babe! Don't worry about it anymore, a woman paid for me...."
----------------
What an awesome moment that was. It's beautiful to know that, amidst the pandemic, amidst the social distancing rules, Love cannot be distanced.
Nothing is more contagious than this...
It really inspired me to want to do the same and pass it on.
What the woman did for me, displayed what Christ did for us.
He was willing to get close to us in the midst of the pandemic of sin to pay the price for us.
In return, we are inspired to want to do the same, to display His character to help others out in difficult situations.
I pray that this testimony inspires you to do the same. Although we are all experiencing social distancing due to the Corona Virus, I hope you are inspired to get close to those in need, maybe not physically, but spiritually and hopefully by your actions, they'll want to remove their face masks and pray to get closer to God.
We might not be able to get close to each other, but no amount of pandemic can stop us from getting close to Him.
May God Bless you and guide you on your journey.
-Amen