It Happened at Walmart

It is my pleasure to introduce a new friend of mine. She is a wonderful inspiration and I know you all will just love her to pieces! Please welcome Victoria to EEE!

Victoria is a slave to Christ and a dork for the '80s. Whether homeschooling, housewifing, or hiding from the laundry heap, she’s grateful to be a continual work of progress in God’s hands. You can find her at her new site where she writes about Biblical Friendship each Friday. http://biblicalfriendship.com


I’ve never quite been able to reconcile the “me” inside with the version other people see. Sometimes shy, others outgoing, there’s just no telling what impression I might leave. When asked point blank, I finally put a name to the dichotomy—I am a closet extrovert.

Oh, I’d love to take you by the hand as we chat and laugh the time away, I’m just too chicken to chance looking like a fool and giving away too much of myself in the process. God is wooing me out of my closet and into the life He’s called me to live—one I’m perfectly content to look a bit foolish living if it makes Him a tiny bit more famous.

Having only just discovered the Lord’s movement to break down the barrier I’d been hiding behind, I wasn’t expecting the prompting He placed on my heart. I certainly wasn’t looking for something so profound, but there it was, and it happened at Walmart!

In fairness, I practically live at Walmart, so where else was it going to happen?

The place was swamped. I made my way toward the checkout lanes with a sigh as I equipped myself to take it all in stride. There ahead, a woman wrapped up her payment and I dashed toward the empty conveyor belt. Stopping to snag my sweetie an orange Fanta from the cooler, I thanked God for giving me some small way to tell my husband he is loved.

Once the cashier had finished with the customer ahead of me, she greeted me that same small greeting you’re sure everyone is trained to deliver though so few actually do. I extended the same courtesy she had shown me, and replied. She looked me square in the eye and thanked me for talking to her.

The way she said it said so much.

Then it happened.

That look-like-a-weirdo moment I’d always wished for and away all at one time—God told me to ask if I could pray for her. Right then. Right there. Ask her, this total stranger just trying to do her job, if I could pray for her.

The weirdest part? I didn’t even hesitate! I can’t say enough how not like me this was.

Please know that it is God alone that made me woman enough to “man up” to the task!

Naturally, the cashier was surprised by my question, but she didn’t skip a beat in answering. After simply saying, “Yes,” she paused for a moment as we stood looking at one another.

We both knew there was more to follow, though I don’t think either of us expected what she’d say next.

“Yes. My daughter just died two years ago; you can pray for me.”

There just aren’t words to fit the emotion in her eyes. All I could do was take her by both hands, look straight into her sweet face and let her know beyond all doubt that I would be praying for her.

On my way home, the Lord gave me such a vivid illustration to go along with the lesson He had began teaching me in that checkout lane. As one car after another slowed down in effort to look out for a gnarly, mangy old stray dog weaving his way in and out of traffic, I couldn’t help but wonder why we never slow down that way for the woman at the post office, the guy ahead of us in line at the bookstore, or even the cashier at Walmart.

Who knows how many stray people we zip past in our daily lives?

God does, that’s exactly why He prompts us to do the seemingly strangest things!

It’s a beautiful burden our Heavenly Father has placed on us, to care for one another!


A big thank you to Victoria for spending some time with us. To add to her fabulous-ness, she is giving away a year subscription to Hope for Women magazine. Check it out! Leave a comment below, and on Tuesday we will randomly draw a name.