An Amazing Christmas Gift~
Hello Friends,
Last night I received a beautiful email from a Nite Lite listener that really touched my heart. He gave me permission to share it with you.
Fran~
Dear Fran,As a regular listener to your show I have heard you share many stories
over the years, and this evening I feel compelled to share one with
you.
As an artist and an optimist, I have always been one to to use
creativity to solve life problems and we’ve had our fair share and a
good friend recently had to remind me - “God doesn’t give you anything
that you can’t handle.” I am a proud individual and I have many things
to be thankful for and many people to thank - mainly friends and
family. I will say my faith and my optimism levels have been slipping
as of late and it would be an honest statement to say I was a somewhat
depressed. Things have been a bit dicey lately financially, as my wife,
like many people, closed her business and we moved her out of her
office building over the Thanksgiving weekend. We decided I would just
buy gifts for the youngest of our kids as we regroup. My wife took a
Christmas job that only lasts for two weeks so she could help me with
the bills as she tries to refocus on how she can revive her business.
I recently had someone get a hold of my credit card number which led to
that card account being closed and I have had to wait for a new credit
card that just arrived today so I could go grocery shopping again. I
didn’t have enough in my checking account after paying all the bills.
As I was checking out this evening at the Weis grocery store in
Westminster, their system went down and I couldn’t use my credit card
to pay for my groceries. I was waiting on a bench in the store for over
a half hour as I waited for their system to reboot (several people were
getting cash out of the ATM next door so they could leave). I had a
young lady, wearing sandals on this cold December day, offer to pay for
my groceries and said I could just send her a check. I kindly said “no
thank you, but that is extremely sweet of you to offer”, and I politely
told her I would just feel uncomfortable with that because I had just
done a regular shopping trip (for five people). I was extremely
impressed by her offer to a complete stranger. I probably waited
another ten minutes after that and the lady in sandals came back in and
stood in front of me and said “I would like to pay for your groceries -
no strings attached” I honestly don’t remember saying anything (I know
I said something - I am never at a loss for words) - I am a very
skeptical person (too many life experiences after 42 years) and I am
sure she saw the hesitancy in my face. She said “look, my father-in-law
recently passed away and left us something…and I know how much
groceries are for a family, I have kids too.” Many things ran through
my mind but mainly, “why is she offering this to me?” I know I sat
there with a look of anguish on my face because I really, well - I’m
not good at accepting gifts and I don’t like owing anyone anything. I
don’t know what made me say “okay” - but, this sweet lady paid cash for
my groceries $200 plus and went on her way after wishing me Merry
Christmas. I hugged her and told her that I really needed her name and
address - she only gave me her name “Amy” and I found out her
father-in-law was “Kurt.”
Could you, if you have time. tell Amy that I plan to “pay it forward”
and I won’t ever forget her kind Christmas gift. Yes, I believe, I
believe there really are angels.
My heart has had a bit of a tough time finding Christmas this year - It
found it this evening. Could you please play “When my heart finds
Christmas” by Harry Connick, Jr. and send it out to Amy and her late
father-in law Kurt.
Best regards,
Matt
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