I was driving home from school today when the woman behind me started honking. We were turning left, and I think the person at the front of the line wasn’t moving fast enough. The light went from green to yellow as I turned, and she swerved behind me through the red.
At the next light, she laid on her horn again.
“Holy crap, lady,” I said within the safety of my car. “Back off.”
I was exhausted from a busy but fantastic weekend, so I decided to loop through the McDonald’s drive-through and grab a coffee. Somehow I wasn’t surprised when she turned into the drive-through behind me. I rolled my eyes. She was such a pain.
I ordered my coffee, and pulled out my debit card to pay. As my car slowly inched forward toward the payment window, I felt a softness sway inside of my chest.
Pay for her order, I heard.
Immediately I knew it was God. This morning I asked Him to start speaking to me, but this was not what I had in mind. I decided to ignore Him. There was no way I was paying for the rude lady behind me. She needed to chill.
Glancing in my rear view mirror, I saw her. Her lips were pressed in a tight line, her eyes sunken, and hollow.
“She’ll probably order something expensive, God . . . and you know I’m trying to save money because of school.”
Pay for her order.
“She was so rude to me! Who needs to honk that excessively? I was literally just following the flow of traffic.” I heaved a huge sigh.
I didn’t hear anything again, but my debit card felt heavy in my hands. My car moved along and the boy at the window told me my total.
I looked in the rear view mirror again, then said to the boy slightly begrudgingly, “Can I pay for the woman behind me, too?”
The boy smiled and said, “Sure. Her total comes to $1.15.”
“Of course it does,” I said. Of course God would orchestrate something like this and only ask me to pay a dollar.
It wasn’t about the money, I knew — it was about listening to Him, about doing what He asked of me. Being faithful in the small things and all that.
I tapped my card and moved along. Watching her in my rear view again, I saw her face looking surprised, and then her face looking softer, and then she was looking at me. Our eyes met in my mirror. My window was down and I heard her yell in a low, gruff voice, “Hey! Thank you!”
I gave her a thumbs up and drove off. As I turned back onto the highway, I cringed at the prospect of my pride getting in the way of loving her. I speak of love and goodness and honoring God — but do I apply that to my real, actual life? More often than not, I’m afraid the answer is no.
I hope that lady saw God today. Or maybe she didn’t.
But I sure did.
Leave a Comment
Michele Morin says
All kinds of truth from the Sermon on the Mount and from Peter’s letters came flooding into my mind as I read your story, Aliza. Your act of loving service to that grumpy driver puts the love of God on display — completely unmerited favor, which is just like what God does for me when I “honk my horn” at Him — excessively.
Aliza Latta says
Thank you, Michele. You’re right: that’s exactly what God does and more.
Bev @ Walking Well With God says
Aliza,
Don’t you love how when we do something kind for someone else, we are really the ones who are blessed. Some days I declare to be “Random Acts of Kindness” days. It’s a lot of fun doing things for others and watch their sullen eyes turn to wonder and surprise. Yes, I am gifting them, but I am also being extremely blessed. Have you ever noticed that the more you pour out in kindness, the more you are refilled and refueled with the energy and desire to do more? So some times when I’m having a lousy day, I declare it a random acts day and it’s fun to watch the blessing unfold all around. Now, what if I declared EVERY day a random acts day? What if we ALL did – what a radically different world we’d live in. Loved this!!
Blessings
Bev xx
Kim Kempf says
How are you doing, Miss Bev? Hope you’re healing quickly! Hugs to you-
Kim
Bev @ Walking Well With God says
Kim,
Moving slowly forward one day at a time….trying to be patient. Thanks for the ((hugs)),
Bev xx
Aliza Latta says
Yes, Bev, I do love that! I love how on your lousy days, instead of looking inward at yourself, you look out towards others. Beautiful.
Janet says
Thank you for this reminder. I want to act out my faith in real life, but sometimes I’d like to ignore the prompting of the Spirit. I would then miss out on blessing others and blessing the Father. God is so good…in my obedience the blessing comes full circle back to me.
Aliza Latta says
It can be easy to ignore that prompting, but you’re right, when we say yes to prompts from God it is often more of a gift to us. Thanks Janet!
Beth Williams says
Aliza,
Here is Upper E. TN our radio station has “Drive-thru difference”. It is done the first Monday of each month. You can print out a letter to give to the person whom you paid for. You never know what that person is going through or dealing with. It just might make their day. So often we say we want to follow God wholeheartedly. When He asks us to do things or talk to people do we follow through? We usually ask what? Me do that? With her? We want to follow Him on our terms. We need to be more like the Woman at the well that Jesus spoke to (Samaritan). We need to drop our bucket and go do what He asks.
Blessings 🙂
Aliza Latta says
Hi Beth! I love that so much. What a neat way to meet people where they’re at. Thank you for sharing!
Lisa-Jo says
You made me cry.
Penny says
Aliza,
That was sweet of you. Thank-you for sharing how if we listen to God’s nudges we can make a change.
Have a blessed day,
Penny
Aliza Latta says
Thank you, Penny!
Wanda Faye Tolbert says
What an awesome post. I know how challenging it is to not want to hear God when you have been wronged. But I love it when He gets the victory and the enemy is uprooted.
Thank you for sharing!
Aliza Latta says
Thank you so much, Wanda. I love that — when he gets the victory.
sheryl87 says
Thank you for this reminder that it’s not about the dollar amount or the size of our effort, its about putting our faith and trust in God, listening for him and doing what he asks of us.
Aliza Latta says
It was a good reminder for me too, Sheryl. Thank you!
Carmel Joyce says
Such a kindn act and a good example for us all.
Thank you so much and Bless you too.
Aliza Latta says
Thank you, Carmel.
Ginger Daniel says
❤❤love this, Aliza!
Aliza Latta says
I’m so glad! Thank you, Ginger!
Beth Negrey says
She most definitely saw Him working through you. And if she has enough experiences like this, she’s definitely going to start pondering on why it’s happening to her. Maybe she’ll even begin to pass it on? When He tells us to love our neighbors as ourselves, you’ve sure given us an example of how we need to keep our eyes, ears, and hearts open! Thanks so much for this!
Aliza Latta says
Wouldn’t that be the best, Beth? I sure hope you’re right and that she saw him. Thank you so much.
Debora-Grace says
Writing the first word that came to mind as I completed this blog, my words will be few:
Wow
🙂
Aliza Latta says
Thank you so much, Debora-Grace. I’m so glad you liked it.
Rebecca L Jones says
He will do that to you. I know He wants to see how much we listen and obey. I once had him to tell me to start writing something, I was scrambling with an unfamiliar subject when there was that softness, “Forget it. ” Don’t be surprised at this leading and prompts. You passed a test, and your are right I think our answers are no a lot of times, we don’t always practice what we preach. You’re a blessing.