Wow God Wednesday {Jeanette Adams}

Although I have more "Wow, God" moments of my own to share, this time (with permission, of course) I will share a dear friend's "Wow, God" moment with you all.  I'd love for you to share your own as well!

I (Jeanette) had a tremendous experience today and I wanted to share with some of you a little more of what has been going on in my life and how little a gesture helped me, when I was touched by a stranger. Hope you enjoy my story. 

Ok so we all get them, the little crack in the brand new windshield of your brand new car, and you can't help but think, "figures." Life has been like that little crack to me lately. Life seems grand. I am married to the love of my life. I am happy in motherhood. I'm going to school. I live two doors down from my parents. I can go over for lunch, and watch my mother and son play Candyland or my father and he play checkers whenever I like. These little things in life have made my heart sing in recent days. I find so much joy in so many aspects of my life, and yet, just like my shiny new car that damn crack calls to me like the "Tell Tale Heart!" I find death knocking on the door. Taunting me at every corner and at every phone call. Where did the days go where we heard of nothing but births and marriages and new careers and vacations? It seems so commonplace now to hear of, "Dad's not doing well and in the hospital," or "So-n-so suffered a fatal heart attack over the weekend." It's been seeming to me that something that was so easily ignored in earlier days, like the evidence of where that damn rock met the windshield, is spreading like a spiderweb, distorting the view of the outside world. Call it mid-life crisis if you will, but mortality is staring me right in the face.

Watching my mother and father debilitate and at such a rapid rate is like a buzzing in my head and is devastation enough to instigate an instant panic attack with a desire to run. I remember watching them in their prime. Hitting the hot new years eve parties dressed to the nines with their perfume and cologne, 3/4 length coats, and vitality leading the way. To see them now where asking them to perform the simplest of tasks, like standing up and walking, for my father, takes a Herculean effort and is disorienting for me. Something about this picture doesn't fit right. They are two of the most independent people I know, (my father has basically been on his own since he can remember, spending much of the depression era as a "hobo" traveling by train car looking for work as a field hand and my mother raising children on her own with no family in a foreign country) but now rely on others for everyday tasks like grocery shopping, phone calls and paying bills. A major adjustment for me has been in order. 

The spiderweb of life and death had just reached a peak in its distortion when I was approached by a man in a Safeway parking lot. He approached me while I sat in my car stating he noticed the little chip in my windshield and if he could repair it. He offered the very low rate of $40 and even offered to take care of a few others, free of charge, that were not quite so visible as of yet. After explaining that yes I had the $40 but times were hard for my family and I and that I would have to discuss this with my husband. Overhearing our phone conversation of weighing the pros and cons to repairing and missing out on the money now or not repairing and risking a whole lot more money if it spreads and the windshield would need replacing, the stranger did the unbelievable. He offered to do the work in the hopes we would pay him at a later date. Dumbfounded and nearly rendered speechless I asked, "you would do that?" He went on to tell me that he too has met on hard times and he too has been blessed with help from time to time and maybe it was his time to give. For once I found it hard to speak. What was this selfless act in such a harsh world? What was wrong, or rather right, with THIS picture? Why and when did kindness become so foreign? Don't get me wrong, I am treated well by my loved ones. It is not that kindness in and of itself is strange but coming from outside my "circle of trust"?? Once again I am hit with a disorienting blow. We chatted as he worked. He told me of his brother that started him in the "windshield" business at the age of 14, but at 21, he decided he wanted more, went to college, joined the corporate world in the housing market and like most other Americans suffered with the plummet of the industry, so he went back to his roots. I couldn't help but wonder while we chatted that this was something bigger. I couldn't help but feel awestruck by his kind gesture. This simple, single act of kindness brought light in a dark place and with it a ray of hope. 

This may have been a common and maybe even a usual act for him. A simple act of kindness that is no more then to offer a "bless you" after a sneeze. But from my viewpoint, it was as if he had reached for me under several layers of debris and handed me a flashlight to help light my way. A single act of kindness, to fix a crack in my windshield, (which now seemed so infinitesimal), to help clear my view, to help clear the cobwebs so that I may see my way again. Thank you Mark for showing me humanity, balance and life again, in what seemed like from under the deafening silence of death's taunting.

After reading this for myself I asked if she wouldn't mind me sharing with my followers/readers.  Her reply was as follows.

Please share! He told me that his father was a pastor at a church in our neighborhood and invited us to come worship there. He even suggested that maybe that was the whole reason we ran into each other. I couldn't help but think maybe......

So, will you accept the challenge and share your own "Wow, God" moment with me to post in a future "Wow, God {Wednesday} blog?  If you've got one you'd allow me to share, comment here that you have a "Wow, God" moment and I'll send you a private message that includes my personal email address for you to send your story to (be sure to include your email address if it is not linked to your comment) or go to my profile page and click the "email" link under "contact" to send me your story in a private message, please be sure to include your name and an email address where I can reach you.  Thanks! 

Remember:
Sharing God's miracles in our lives is always such a blessing for those
who heard/read.  You never know who's heart you may touch!