Divine cups of coffee

A few weeks ago, my sister and I decided to take our pups on a cousin walk. This is a newer thing we've been doing to try to warm Baker up to the thought of having to share his auntie with a cute little rambunctious Ava. ;) So far... well, each day is another step.

Regardless...

We decided to walk so we would pass Starbucks close to the end of our walk. We decided we would pick up a few drinks to go.

But once we got there, we said to each other, "should we stay or go? ehh... let's just sit for a few minutes."

As we discussed something related to the amount of cream vs sweetener vs extra pumps required to make our iced coffees just right, a young woman walked up to us from her car. She said, "can I pet your dogs?" "Of course!" we said. She sat down at our table with us and we introduced the animals.

As I said "and this is Emma... she's really shy..." I watched my sensitive intuitive puppy walk right up to this girl and sit quietly in front of her. And she just stayed and let this girl pet her.

After a few minutes of petting her and talking about how much she loves animals, she told us she lost her kitty the week prior. Then she told us she was on her way to spread her dad's ashes. He had died in the hospital about a month prior. She talked about how she had to speak and was having a hard time, and about her kids and how they were coping with the loss of grandpa. And she said how much she has missed having a pet since her kitty ran away. She said, "I pulled up and saw your dogs and I said to my husband, 'I have to pet those dogs.' And he said, 'I know.'"

We spent about 10 minutes listening to her share her story. We shed tears together and we talked about life. And the whole time, my skiddish Emma sat faithfully and let this woman pet her. Finally, she said she should probably go get her coffee and head to the ceremony. As she got up, I caught a glimpse of the tattoo on her arm with scripture on it.

After she walked inside, Carly and I looked at each other in amazement. I said we should have prayed for her. Carly said she was thinking the same exact thing. We decided we still needed to. I told her about the verse on her arm.

A few moments later, the woman walked out with her husband and we stopped her. "Are you a Christian?" "yes" she said. "We are too. Can we pray for you?" "YES! please! oh you want to?! thank you!" and she sat down so quickly. Emma quickly walked back to her and sat down. And we prayed for this young girl. For her heart. For her words. For wisdom and comfort and peace. For healing. For protection. For her children. For her family.

At the end, we looked up with tears in our eyes and all gave each other hugs. "I'm Jamie" she said. "I feel connected now!" she said. We said goodbye.

As we watched Jamie and her husband drive off to her dad's service, we again looked at each other amazingly.

1. we were not even going to sit. we sat for a few minutes just on a whim.
2. emma never sits that still with strangers. she's always so skiddish. but she's also the most perceptive animal i've ever known and she knew something was going on and Jamie needed her.
3. we both knew we needed to pray. and Jamie knew she needed to be prayed for.
4. we all took leaps of faith. and God made Himself SO real, so present, so loving, so true.

We slowly made the walk back home. But we were different. We watched a little miracle happen. In all of our hearts.

This is the evidence of God at work.