I went up to the counter at a gas station today to buy a pair of sunglasses. The girl mentioned she had a headache.
I asked if she was able to get one of the bottles of aspirin on the shelf. She said times were tight and she didn’t get paid until Friday.
I had been reading in Acts where the disciples healed the sick and hearts were changed. I asked the girl “Can I pray for you?”
She misunderstood me and said, “You want to PAY for it for me?” She mumbled a half-hearted “That’s ok. I’ll survive.”
I repeated myself and caught her off guard by saying a quick one-line prayer with her at the counter. She seemed a little confused. I was a lot awkward. I went out to my car.
Then I realized how dense I was. I had basically said ‘because I am a spiritual guy I can pray for you instead of directly solving the problem for you.’
So I swallowed my pride and went back in. I bought her the aspirin.
She said it’s rare that anybody does anything like that for her. So that’s cool. Not quite a modern day miracle, but that might be a little wave in a tide that eventually changes a heart. And hopefully that redeemed the impression she had of that naive Christian that sprung a prayer on her in the middle of the gas station.
God can fix people’s problems when asked, but maybe sometimes he’d rather have someone who bears his smile accompany the cure.
Raw Spoon
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