By Kay Heitsch
As I turned to go down the aisle in the grocery store, I spotted him... an older man appearing to be lost. As I walked closer, I could see a sad look in his eyes. I felt an urge to say something to him. "What should I say?" I wondered to myself. "Can I help you find something?" I heard myself saying. "Thank you; I need some help," he answered. "Tell me what you are looking for, and I'll try to help you find it," I said. "Why did you stop and talk to me? You don't work here, do you?" he asked. "Well, I could see by the look on your face that you seemed to need help," I answered. With that, he introduced himself. "Hi, I'm Albert.* This is the first time since my wife died that I've been to the grocery store. My wife always did the shopping, and I'm lost in this big store. Thank you for helping me."
I leaned over and hugged Albert. I told him that my son, Todd, had died in a car accident only a few weeks earlier. We shared a faint smile, knowing that we both had been through a tough time.
As I pondered what had happened, I realized that going through this grieving time had brought something out in me that wasn't there before. My eyes seemed to be opened, and I noticed other hurting people. I'm sure the year early; I would have been like the other people in the store, who walked by and didn't see the hurt in this man's eyes.
In 2 Corinthians 1:4, it reads: "He helps us in all our troubles so that we can help others who have all kinds of troubles, using the same help that we have received from God." God had helped me through this tragedy of Todd's death, and now He was enabling me to see the hurt in others and reach out to help them.
* Name has been changed.
1 comment:
This is a beautiful story Kay. It's such a good example of how tragedy, as painful as it is, can give us such a different perception of the world we live in, and how God uses our hurts to benefit other hurting people. Thanks for sharing this with us.
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