When God Blesses You Back
“Don’t just pay
with the $20 bill.
Take the time
to give the exact
change needed
along with the $20 bill.”
As I made my way
to the drive-thru window,
I felt God prompting me
to do something
I don’t usually do.
With my purchase equaling
$7 and some change,
on any other day,
I would have simply
handed the cashier a $20 bill.
But, not this day.
“Ok. Here you go.
Here’s your change.
A ten and three one dollar bills.”
I smiled at the cashier,
tucked the money
in my wallet,
and headed off
to complete the next thing
on my list of to-dos:
stopping by a beauty retail store
to purchase trial size products
on a buy one get one free sale.
I quickly found the hand lotion
I wanted to get.
With only two in stock,
I grabbed both,
wishing I could purchase
at least two more.
Then, I quickly went
to find the other product
I had come to purchase.
This was completely sold out,
so I soon found myself
patiently waiting
as a sales clerk tried
to order the sold out product online.
As I stood and waited,
I couldn’t help but hear
the conversation
at the register beside me.
“I’m sorry, but your purchase
came to $27.52 and
you only gave me $25.”
I looked over to see
a young girl about twelve years old
frantically looking in her coin purse.
It was easy to see
she had given the sales clerk
all the money she had.
“I’m sorry, but in order to
complete your transaction,
I need almost three dollars more.”
That’s right.
You know where
this is going,
don’t you?
And,
you’re not wrong.
I quickly made my way
over to the young girl
and handed her the
three dollars from my wallet –
the three dollars
that wouldn’t have been there
if God hadn’t prompted me
to give the exact change
at my last stop.
“Here you go.”
The look
on her young face
was priceless.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. 100% sure.”
“Thank you so much.”
Stepping back over
to my space at the counter,
the sales clerk helping me
had finished my online order.
As the young girl
passed by me
on her way out of the store,
she stopped and
thanked me once again.
“Thank you so much, Ma’am.”
“You are so welcome.
It made my heart happy
to be able to help you.”
Meanwhile,
the cashier helping me
rang up my
two lotions at
buy one get one free
and placed them in a bag.
“Here you go.
So sorry about
your long wait.”
“No need to apologize.
If I wouldn’t have
had to wait,
I wouldn’t have been here
to help that young girl.
God knew.
He worked it all out
just the way
it needed to be.”
As I left the store,
I remembered
there was another store
just like this one
across town.
Hoping they might
have some more
hand lotion,
I decided to
stop in and see.
And they did!
Only when
the sales clerk
rang up the purchase,
they didn’t ring up
on sale.
“I’m sorry but
these hand lotions
aren’t included
in our buy one
get one free sale.”
“They aren’t?
I just purchased
two at the other store
and they rang up
on sale there.”
“Let me look up
your receipt on our computer.
Oh, I see.
It looks like
for some reason
the cashier there
did a price override
and gave them to you
for the buy one get one price,”
“She did?!”
I’m sure the
look on my face
was priceless.
“Oh, I didn’t know that.
Ok. I’ll just put these back.”
“No, that’s ok.
If she gave you
the sale price,
we will go ahead
and honor it here as well.”
Suddenly I was
feeling just as surprised
and just as thankful
as the young girl
God has blessed
with the three dollars.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. 100% sure.”
As I picked up
my lotion
and walked to my car,
tears began
to fill my eyes.
To have been
chosen by God
to not only bless
but to be blessed back –
only God!
Oh, how the Father loves.
~Stacy
