Blog Book

September 27, 2019 One Saturday during last July I had precious interactions with a young boy who was having lunch at Chick-fil-A with his mother and brothers. And since that day I have thought of Connor many times, wondering if our paths might cross again sometime while I'm at work. Hoping they would. Realizing they may not. But then there was last Friday. I was stationed at the register closest to the entrance and was doing my best to make myself visable to the folks at the front of the line - all the way at the other end of the counter. That is to say, the entrance to my left and the front of the line to my right, I was not paying a lot of attention to my left side. Until I heard a small voice coming from that direction saying, "Karen???" And when I turned to see who was calling my name, there he was. Recognizing my young friend I said, "Connor???" He smiled. Then I loooked at the woman in front of me and asked, "Will you excuse me very quickly, please?...

June 21, 2019 So Monday I was at work - making eye contact, smiling at guests, speaking enthusiastically, and making connections. I was moving as quickly as I could while still doing my best to not rush people or make them feel pressured. My recollection is that I was even being successful in order accuracy and efficiency. From the outside, I imagine everything looked splendid. But I knew it wasn't. That is, on the inside of me I didn't feel enthusiastic. The words I spoke came at the expense of a whole lot of effort. The smiles weren't necessarily sincere. And I frequently found myself glancing at the clock to see how much longer I had to work. I couldn't put my finger on any one thing which was causing me to feel this way. It just seemed like I was in a funk, and I wanted nothing more than to get out of it. Then something wonderful happened. A woman came to my register and ordered a salad. Nothing else. Just a salad. Which totaled $8.89. The majority of people pay w...

May 24, 2019 Oh, the stories I could tell about the faithfulness of GOD. *peaceful, grateful, delighted sigh* See, the thing is, I had a rough day at work earlier this week. OK. Maybe I'm being too extreme when I say it was "rough". The truth is, it just wasn't "great" like they usually are. For starters, it was cold and rainy, and being in the drive-thru window was a little miserable. (PSA: When you're at the window of a drive-thru and it's raining, go ahead and turn off your wipers. Otherwise they *might* repeatedly flick water on the drive-thru attendant and even splash his/her glasses. Just sayin' .) At one point, I handed the wrong drink to a guest and realized my mistake too late. I felt terrible, she was not happy, and my apology seemed to be meaningless to her. As the day went on - try as I might - it was just difficult to feel sincere in my enthusiasm. Ya know? So the next morning as I drove to work I was praying. Asking my Father to h...

December 7, 2010 Sunday in church our worship leader took a moment to speak about marriage. He then had all the married couples sit down, as he asked everyone standing around them to lay hands on them and pray. While I was seated there next to Brian, I heard Matthew say, "Hey! Look what time it is!" You guessed. It was 11:11 . No kidding!

June 25, 2010 Monday could have been remembered as a really bad night at work. *Our communication with insurances went down so everything was taking longer. And most customers weren't happy about that problem. *There was the man whose daughter's doctor (apparently) called prescriptions into two different pharmacies, whose wife tried to (angrily) solve the problem with one of the pharmacies, which resulted in him driving all around town looking for said prescriptions, while his little girl sat at home with a fever - waiting for her medicine. (His rendition of this story was not as calm or kind as mine. LOL!) *Let's not forget the pregnant woman who let me know how angry she was because we were out of the pre-natal vitamin she needed. I didn't bother to ask why she waited until she was out of vitamins to come get her prescription refilled. (Oh! Did I really just say that out loud? *grin* I mean, I understand 'pregnancy brain' but when did that involve being ...

June 11, 2010 So Tuesday afternoon I was walking into work, praying and asking God to make me sensitive to His Spirit - asking Him to help me honor Him in the pharmacy. I worked every night this week and, honestly, I didn't have the best attitude about it. I would rather have been home so I could eat dinner with my family. I would rather have been home so I could walk Matthew home from school. But I am trusting that God has a plan with this whole thing we're going through, and I knew I needed to be in communion with Him - that He might change my heart. So I prayed. And with one of my very first customers, God reminded me He's in this circumstance and I can trust Him with the results. It wasn't anything this particular customer said to me. There was nothing extraordinary about our interaction. God spoke through the change. That is, the customer's items totaled $28.89 and he paid me with $40. Do the math. When I put his money in the drawer and looked up at ...

May 12, 2008 OK. Are you ready for this??? The conclusion of my Southern Adventure? Sunday morning I got up very early to make sure I made it to the airport on time for my flight home. I sat in the hotel lobby, waiting for the shuttle to arrive, and got a big ol' grin on my face when I looked over at the elevators and saw that two of them were sitting at the eleventh floor. 11 11, again. OK, Lord, I prayed, I know You're in this. Please show me the reason for this change in plans. Once at the airport, I sat with a bunch of other passengers - waiting for a flight attendant. Don't know what was slowing her down, but for some reason she was late and we weren't boarding the plane without her. Several times, an announcement came over the speakers that we would be boarding shortly, and making our connecting flights in Atlanta shouldn't be a problem. In spite of the fact we took off nearly an hour later than scheduled, I'm telling you, I have never seen a faster boar...

May 10, 2008 First of all, thank you, thank you , to each of you who prayed for the Mother's Day Brunch this morning. It was absolutely wonderful. I stood on the platform and moved my mouth, but God was the one speaking to the hearts of women. And from the feedback I have received, I am confident He was speaking clearly and tenderly. What a tremendous blessing to be His instrument! I was particularly encouraged by the comments from women that the message was just what they needed to hear. Quite honestly, there was a time when I was a bit uncertain about its appropriateness for a Mother's Day Brunch. I thought maybe the women would be expecting something having more to do with motherhood, how important mothers are, how much we need to esteem motherhood, you get the picture. But some time ago I read Mark 6 and was so encouraged that - though I often do not feel like I am enough of a mom - in Jesus' hands, I become enough. That message has been growing in my heart and I was ...

April 22, 2008 More and more I am becoming convinced God has a special thing with me and the number eleven, eleven. A couple of weeks ago I met a friend for lunch. She didn't have her glasses and when our checks came she held hers up and asked me to tell her what it came to. It was $11.11. I chuckled, prayed for Brian, and told her the story of eleven eleven. Last week I emailed a friend from small group and she replied (knowing the significance of that number), "Cute how you sent that email at 11:11." I didn't. Her computer was an hour off, but she saw the number and emailed it to me. So, of course, I prayed for Brian again. Recently I was in the van with the kids, and Matthew piped up, "Mom, you might want to look at the clock." I thought, What for? We aren't on a schedule. We aren't late for anything. But I looked and saw it was 11:11. This morning I was driving and glanced at the clock at 11:11 without anyone prompting me. (Well, I guess God pr...

January 14, 2008 When my husband and I were sophomores in college the last four digits of his telephone number were 1111. Something about that number tickled Brian and whenever he saw that time displayed on the clock he chimed, "Eleven Eleven!" (November 11 also became his favorite day of the year.) I would usually chuckle at his fixation on that number, not realizing God would make it significant for me, too. You see, one day we decided - since we always thought of each other when we saw 11:11 - we would pray for one another whenever we looked at the clock and it was displaying that time. For the past 16 or 17 years God has frequently brought my eyes around to the clock at 11:11 and I have prayed for my dear husband. Actually, I have even seen a billboard along the roadside which had "eleven eleven" written out on it. That was good enough for me, so I prayed then, too. *grin* Some time over the past few months I told Matthew about this prayer cue Brian and I have, ...