Old Brown Coats

This is my favorite gardening coat, mostly warm and water proof, with a hole from our last burn.  When it is really cold, this is the scarf I wear on my head.  I got it for Christmas in the second grade. It was to keep out the cold Wyoming winds.

While in my favorite thrift store this week, I spotted a little lady dressed in the same coat and a similar scarf.  She was happy and not shy about talking with people.  When she turned around, crudely written on the back of her coat with yellow paint were these words:  “Jesus Christ is the Lord”.   I smiled to myself.

Then she approached me and told me she liked my shoes and asked where I got them.  Without thinking I replied that I bought them at a store on the mall.  For a moment, her face fell and then she brightened and looking down at her shoes, proudly said she had bought her’s  in the store we were in. I looked at her feet and saw shoes that were exactly like my rubber garden shoes. 

She said that she only paid $10 dollars for them and that she knew God had put them there for her because she needed to keep her feet dry.  She said, “God is so good.”  And then asked if I knew that.

Later, she was one ahead of me in the checkout line.  With a big smile she turned to me and said:  “God put an extra dollar in my purse.  I counted my money before I left home and I had exactly $2.  And now I have $3.”  Then she asked me if God had ever done that for me………

She laid one dollar on the counter and walked out the door with her small purchase.  I wanted to follow her……I wanted to understand her great faith…..I wanted to answer her question, “Has God ever done that for you?”