michelle, emmer & emma

I sometimes marvel at the Lord's timing of everything.

I am glad that on some days, I am unexpectedly surprised by happy strangers that come along my way.

Some people, for whatever reason, aren't comfortable striking up a conversation with someone else. Having to come into close contact, within their circle of space, might make some people feel uncomfortable or simply not open to becoming acquainted with me. Again, there could be a multitude of reasons such as lack of time, having to be somewhere, ill, or feeling insecure. Shoot, I even feel these feelings sometimes, but mostly, i LOVE meeting new people and getting to know someone, remember George Dubbya?

These past two weeks, I've been fortunate to run across a few women who were strangers, but had a twinkle in their eye and kindly smiled at me as I was going to pass them by. For a reason, I drove backwards. I'd like to share my brief encounters with them.

The first woman I met is Michelle. I was at CVS with James, as he needed to fill some prescriptions. As you may know, I am a bargain shopper/couponer, so i had slowly passed by the haircare aisle when I saw yellow clearance stickers screaming for my attention on the shelves of select hair color. I drove into the end of the aisle and Michelle was there checking out the deals too. I saw her shopping cart to the right of her with her huge coupon binder open! I instantly got excited to meet another couponer, though she is more of an extreme, very organized couponer. 

We started talking about that and I shared with her a few couponing/deal sites I visit frequently, including Hip2save.com that she had never heard of. James came back to find me still there chatting away! I mentioned my blog and how i write about my life, including occasional shopping trips or special buys. She went on to say that she had a disability, not one that is visible to the eye. I didn't quite understand what she said about that because she spoke very low, but I do know that she has had lots of medical challenges. She is married with three sons, I believe, one who is autistic. She said she'd like to share my blog site with him to encourage him that even though you may have a disability that you can still be productive, creative and be someone you want to be. That there is still hope.

I then snapped a photo with her and wrote down my email and blog address. She took a pic of me to show her son. After 25 minutes of conversing with her, we had to go. I knew I could chat with her all afternoon if we had the time lol!

The next couple of women I met were Emmer and Emma, a mother-daughter duo I met in my doctor office building's lobby. They were definite women of God. Faith was the hot topic that brought us together.

dear emmer who led prayer

I was entering the lobby and Emmer had a sparkle in her eye that I saw through her over-sized sunglasses. I complimented her glasses, because I love big glasses too! She smiled and said thank you. I ended up easily conversing with her daughter emma too, who sat right across from her. They were waiting for their ride home, just like James and I were.

Emma went on to profess that I was healed. That I could be fully healed, that I just needed to keep my faith and trust in the Lord Jesus, because He can heal! I smiled and agreed showing her my engraved silver ring, "Saved by grace through faith"- Ephesians 2:8-9

She asked if I minded if we prayed together and of course I didn't. She anointed my head with a blessed oil and murmured words of Hebrew. She anointed the hands of Emmer and James.

James and I held grandma Emmer's hand and my right hand held Emma's as she held her mom's hand too. Emmer lead the prayer. After the 'amen', Emmer looked up at James and asked, "are you her [my] husband?"
We chuckled.
"No, I am her friend." 
"Oh, Fred! nice to meet you Fred."
"No, Mom, that's her FRIEND, not Fred. His name is James."
"Oh, well then James, that prayer goes for you too."

Emma went on to tell me that she and her husband are ministers of a small church. We exchanged numbers and I wrote my blog url and email for her too. As their rushed taxi arrived, she said hurriedly out the door, maybe we can have lunch sometime!  

I hope she reads my blog soon because I promised I'd write about our encounter and that Emmer was gonna be on the internet lol.

Have you met any interesting strangers lately?