I heard this true story on the local Christian radio station last night on the way home from work:

Ann was out running an errand and came across a lady on the side of the road with a flat tire. She pulled over to help and changed the lady’s tire for her, refusing the money the woman offered her, until the lady looked right at her and said,”Ann, take the money.” She stared at the woman, because she at no point had mentioned her name was Ann. 

“How do you know my name?”

“That’s not important”,  the lady said. “Ann, you take this money and you bless someone with it. Also, follow me. The store you are looking for will be on the left. I’ll put my blinker on when we get there.” Ann hadn’t told her where she was going, but dumbfounded, she pocketed the outstretched bills, got in her car, and followed the woman, who by some miracle drove right to Ann’s original destination and put the blinker on as they pulled in front. Ann did a double-take towards the building, wondering how on earth this could be happening, and when she glanced in front of her again, both the woman and the car had vanished into thin air.

“What are you trying to tell me, God???” she asked. She knew she had just met an angel. She remembered the woman had told her to use the money to bless someone. She decided to call her friend, also named Ann, and tell her she’d take her out to breakfast the next morning.

Over pancakes, Ann told Ann about the heavenly encounter she’d had. To her surprise, her friend began to weep at the table, and the story spilled out.

Ann’s friend had recently suffered both a miscarriage and a devastating divorce. She was also deaf and having issues at work. When Ann called her, she had been planning to commit suicide in the morning, but decided to put it off until after the breakfast. Once she heard Ann’s story, she knew that God had personally intervened to save her life and she decided not to go through with it at all. Today she is a deaf minister and spends her time serving the homeless and anyone else who needs the love of Christ as she did that day.

Wow. Just wow. As I drove down the back roads tonight listening to Ann recount her story, my eyes filled with tears at the loving care God has for each and every one of us.

He knows. He sees. He feels our pain, and he is so willing to walk with us through it and pull us out when the water gets too deep.

Encouraged.

Ang

Photo Credit: CarInsurance101.com