Amazing Grace
When God shows His faith in us
Today, I went to have my car fixed. When I mentioned this to a close friend of mine, she told me a story that happened to her when she recently had her car repaired.
While she was waiting at the counter to pay, an elderly woman was in line in front of her, desperately talking to the clerk about the new tires she needed.
“But I definitely can’t pay more than $100 per month,” she said, trying to sound brave. “This is an unexpected expense, you see. I really have to see how I can fit this into my budget.”
The clerk smiled sympathetically. “You can pay it off in six installments. Just make sure not to go over the six months, or you’ll have to pay interest. The tires will be in on Monday.”
“Oh, Monday?!” the woman said anxiously. “Is that when I have to pay the first installment? I don’t think I can do that.”
“No,” the clerk said soothingly. “I don’t think installments are due until next month.”
My friend, who overheard the whole conversation, said she felt the familiar poke of the Holy Spirit: Just pay it. Pay her bill.
She waited until the woman had left and told the clerk she would take care of the bill, over $600, as an anonymous donation. It wasn’t chump change for her either, but she knew it was the right thing to do.
I said to my friend, “That must have made you feel really good.”
She replied, “Oh yes! I was so moved, I cried the whole way back to my house.” As she said this, tears were glistening in her eyes again.
I said, “Why? Because you made a poor old lady really happy?”
She shook her head. “That too, but… most of all, it proved to me HOW MUCH God loves me. Do you realize how much God must love me, how much faith He must have in me to send me this gift? He could have sent anyone to help that poor woman, to be her ‘human angel’ that day, but He didn’t. He chose me. He put His trust in me that I would step up and do His will when the opportunity arose. What an amazing grace!”
She wiped away a stray tear. “It’s like every time we do His will in a big way, every time we take that leap of faith, we get a tiny step closer to holiness. I feel so blessed.”
I was stunned. I never thought of random acts of kindness as a gift from God for us. And most of all, I never thought of God having faith in us. Always just the other way around.
Amazing grace, indeed.