Enough Grace

Last week was rough. I'll spare you all the boring details and simply remind you that mommys are not supposed to get sick. I kinda forgot that and went ahead and tried it anyway. I immediately regretted that decision. As soon as I had staggered back to my feet, my baby and husband came down with it. So I made a lot of tea and handed out a lot of Tylonel. But in the middle of it all, I met a stranger in Walmart who gave me the courage to go on.

I had taken Vienna to the doctor because I was sure she had an ear infection. But of course she didn't. The doctor said to simply do "comfort measures." So I took her to Walmart because we all no there's no better place to rest and recuperate than in a shopping cart. I wanted to be anywhere except Walmart but "comfort measures" include nourishing food and baby Tylonel and we were almost out of both so I had no choice.

I passed a lady and her three children in the aisle. She commented that it looked like someone wasn't feeling well. I assumed she was referring to my toddler. I guess she could tell by the way she was still in her pajamas and it was lunch time. The fact that she was sucking on a Tylonel syringe and trying to lunge head long out of the cart into my arms was probably a good indication as well. I felt a teeny bit annoyed. I knew full well my child wasn't feeling well and I didn't need complete strangers pointing it out to me. I gave a half hearted smile and moved on to the bread aisle. As I paused to give Vienna more Tylonel, (this shopping trip was not getting easier) the lady appeared again, parked her cart directly in front of mine, and approached me.

What she said next nearly left me speechless! "I really feel like I'm supposed to pray with you." Did she know I was having one of the hardest weeks ever? Did she know I was trying to pretend I felt better just so I could care for my sick family? Did she know that when I finally got my groceries in the car the battery would be dead and I would have to wait for someone to come rescue me with jumper cables? Probably not. But God did.

I walked away choking back tears because the God I serve cares about little things like sick babies and exhausted mommys. And when I come to the end of myself and think I can't take one more step...  He's always right there offering me enough grace to go on.

My yellow rose bush that looked like it wanted to die got four blooms on it! I think they look a lot like hope in the hard places. May you feel grace and hope in your own hard places today!