Praise be to God

Have you ever had one of those days where you felt Satan creeping into your life because of the work he has done in others? Have you ever experienced the cruelness and selfishness of another human being because of jealousy and indecency? Have you ever thought you were doing "what was right" only to be hurt by someone else in their attempts prove you wrong? Well this happened to our family recently. I being my worry wart self let it get to me as usual. I didn't say much to my husband because I was too upset and he tried to comfort me as he told me he expected things to work out the way they did. Because these experiences have been ongoing he has become numb and expectant of them and able to cope more. I on the other hand am the glass half full kind of girl and I expect more of people so I get let down when they act so immaturely. All I could do was Pray. I prayed for peace and comfort. I prayed for God to heal hearts and help with ongoing psychological issues so that joy could be restored instead of hurt.

God knows our hearts and intentions and I believe that he honors our prayers and requests, especially when they reflect his will. Although for a short while Satan was able to steal our joy we did not succumb to it. We went out for a family dinner at one of our favorite restaurants. Raegan fell asleep in the car so Scott held her in the restaurant. She awoke and needed to go to the bathroom while we waited for our food so I took her. At a nearby table sat a lonely soldier dressed in civilian clothing. He looked to be in his mid 30's. He ate a modest meal and intently studied some papers that were stapled together. While I went to the restroom, he and Scott struck up a conversation and talked for a few minutes. This would not be relevant to share until he left so as I approached they ended the conversation and I sat down to eat. I heard him exclaim, "Best of luck to you and your family," and he and Scott shook hands. We ate our dinner. He left sometime midway through the meal only nodding as he left. Then Scott told me that the soldier struck up a conversation because he saw his firefighter shirt and asked about his job. The soldier shared that he had just finished a tour in Iraq where his job was to inspect fire stations and equipment. He shared his years of experience and commented about our nice family. Scott thanked him for his 14 years of service to our country and likewise the soldier thanked him and they shook hands and concluded with well wishes. The waitress brought our...to go boxes and our dessert. We waited for the check as she was very busy taking care of other diners. She came with a smile and told us that our check had been taken care of. We thought she was joking. She laughed as she told us that the nearby soldier had requested our bill and paid for our meal. We were overjoyed by the generosity. We were elated by the gesture of kindness. I completely forgot about the previous happenings that had made me so blue. We felt God's presence through the kindness of a stranger. He was gone...like a ghost, probably never to be seen again. So I prayed for him also. Praise be to God for all his Glory.