Here is a true story I stumbled upon a few weeks ago, and I’ve received permission to share it with you.

At the store, I talked to a checker I’ve known for years. As she rang up our family’s groceries, she shared a story from her life that I’d never heard.

In her younger years Vicky had lived in California and stayed in a converted garage where she’d lived for months. One day she heard commotion in the front yard and went to check on it. A police officer spoke with the main renters. Then he turned to ask if she lived there as well.

“Yes.”

“You have fifteen minutes to pack your things and get out,” he told her.

With no place to go, she set up camp in an alley way. That’s where she stayed for a few months until a family she didn’t even know invited her to stay with them. “We don’t have a room, but you can sleep on the couch.”

She was stunned at their compassion and accepted their offer. Three days after she moved in with them, she had a massive seizure.

Her next memory was waking in the hospital, head bandaged.  From a nurse Vicky learned that she’d undergone surgery to remove a massive tumor on her brain. She returned to the family’s home to recover and was able to live a normal life.

By this time, I’m asking questions. “Did you have family in the area?”

“Yes, but they just thought I was crazy. They didn’t help me. Later one relative shared that I used to drop to my knees and hold my head in pain. I don’t remember anyone trying to get help or find out why. If the other family hadn’t spoken up when they did, I would have died in the alley that day!”

My breath caught. I continued puzzling this story together. “Did you know Jesus before this incident?”

She placed a hand on one hip. “Well, I was raised Protestant.”

I’ve heard her talk many times about the grace of God in her life, so I persisted. “No, I mean, before the surgery and all, did you have a relationship with God?”

She paused with a faraway look in her eye, the grocery line behind us building. She didn’t seem concerned. “No, I really didn’t. It wasn’t until the other family invited me in that I came to understand the love of God and that He wanted a relationship with me.”

I packed my groceries out in a bit of a daze. What if that family hadn’t been there for her? What if those strangers had made excuses for why inviting her would never have worked? We don’t know her. We don’t have a room for her.

This dear lady’s testimony humbled me, and I couldn’t stop talking about her to my family. Lord, if we all said the right YES to You this world would be a different place. Obviously, right?

God, thank You for moving on those people’s hearts and that You love people through us. Still my heart. Place in me a willingness to do anything You call me to. Let me never assume what Your will is. Help me to be still and listen, to read Your word and obey it. You are worthy of all!

Psalm 103:2-5

Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits:
Who forgives all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases,

Who redeems your life from destruction,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
Who satisfies your mouth with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Thanksgiving overflows my heart for church, family, and friends.

And in moments like these, seeing God work in His people, letting me stumble into such a  transformed life, brightens my entire week.

There is no place better than being smack in the middle of God’s will. That’s what the people who invited Vicky were—God with skin on, saving her life that day, though they couldn’t have foreseen the impact.

Would you share with me how God has reached into your world? Has He demonstrated His love through someone, making you ever grateful? Maybe He’s led you to do something you wouldn’t have normally, but later you saw God’s hand in it? How did it change you?

This Thanksgiving, let’s show our gratitude to the Almighty by rehearsing His goodness and grace both in our hearts and to anyone who will listen. Our God is mighty, loving, and kind.

For the Jacob Generation,

Melinda Poling