Experiencing God's goodness

The night before this, negative thoughts, doubt and sadness crept in. This, with a mixture of no sleep resulted in a rough morning so I decided to take control of my emotions and to check out one of the only remaining Christian bookstores in our city.

As I perused the aisles, I picked up a book for grieving parents following infant loss. I walked a few steps with it in my hands and then remembered - Sunny was still alive - she was still with us! I wasn't going to buy a book like that until absolutely necessary and it wasn't necessary yet.

I then decided to walk to the men's devotional section to pick something out for Mike. As I was scanning the books, I noticed an older lady with a cane walking towards me. Realizing how narrow the aisle was, I attempted to scoot closer to the shelf in order to allow more room for her to walk past me. As she walked by me, she touched my arm and said, "you are a very beautiful woman."

I looked at her and thanked her. I told her it was so nice to hear. She then told me that God placed it on her heart to tell me that and asked if she could pray for me. I decided to share Sunny's story with her. She looked at my tummy and said, "God wants you to have this baby! I speak life over this baby! God, heal this baby from head to toe in her mother's womb!"

I thanked her and hugged her. We then went our separate ways to complete our shopping. When it came time to pay, I stood in line at the register. I noticed she had come up behind me. I told her to go ahead of me as she had only one item. When she completed her transaction, she turned towards me and handed me the devotional book she purchased telling me she bought it for me.

I was blown away by this act of kindness. A complete stranger had just demonstrated so much love in one simple gesture. I believe this interaction was 100% God's perfect timing. Even through the most painful and uncertain time of my life, I could still see God's goodness through the way He was using people to remind me of His love.

This was just one instance...

As I reflected back on previous encounters with people, I realized God reminded me of this so many times...through receiving a gift basket with a card and baby blanket from the baristas at Starbucks, through cookies and a DoorDash gift card from our neighbors, through friends checking in and asking how they could pray for me, through the kind hug the salesperson gave me as we purchased Sunny's baptismal and/or burial gown. His goodness was truly everywhere. I just needed to choose to find it.