By Kay Heitsch
It was a delightful morning. Birds were singing; chipmunks were chirping, eating their morning meal of acorns on our front steps. "Oh, life doesn't get any better than this," I said to myself as I sat in my usual spot on the sofa reading my Bible and talking to the Lord. This quiet time was a daily habit. I never knew exactly how long I would be there when I sat down. I was always excited to see what the Lord would be teaching me each day. I looked forward to this quiet time alone with God.
This morning, as I sat holding my Bible on my lap and reading, I heard an inner voice say, "Get up and go to the corn stand at the Antique Mall." "What?" I found myself saying. "Lord, this is our time together. Is this really You?"
Actually, I wasn't sure there was a corn stand by the Antique Mall. If there was one, I certainly had never been there. I heard the words again, this time loud and clear, "Kay, get up and go to the corn stand at the Antique Mall. "This was very strange, and in a way, I felt foolish acting upon this thought, but finally, I said to the Lord, "You know my heart, and I really want to do what You tell me. If this is You telling me to go, I want to obey; if this is not You, you know my heart is right." This was going to be between the Lord and me. If there were no corn stand there, I wouldn't even tell anyone about this conversation.
I got up, left everything as it was, and got into the van. I drove to the Antique Mall. I slowly pulled into the parking lot, wondering why I was there and what I would find. Lo and behold, there was a little produce stand. I stopped and parked the van. Then I thought, "Well, now what do I do?" The idea of getting out and buying some corn came to me. GOOD IDEA!
After I selected a dozen ears of corn, the first corn we'd had this season, I handed the young lady behind the counter the money and returned to the van. I'm still unclear on why I was there.
As I opened the van's door to put the corn in, I noticed the inspirational booklets written by Dr. Peale sitting in the basket between the seats. I always kept a supply of these booklets to give out to people when I felt directed.
The thought of giving this girl who was selling the corn a booklet came to mind. I reached in and picked up a couple of brochures. I got out of the van and walked over to the stand again, booklets in hand. Several people were milling around, looking over the produce. I walked up in front of the girl, handed her the booklets, and said, "I thought you might enjoy reading these today."
Without hesitation, she came out from behind the counter, took the booklets, and asked, "Who sent you?" I was stunned! To my surprise, I answered, "God." I tried to explain what had happened that morning. I told her that the request to go to the corn stand at the Antique Mall was so strange I felt it must be the Lord, so I came. By then, the other people around the stand were listening to our conversation, astonishment on their faces. I'll be honest; I was a little astonished myself.
All of a sudden, this girl began to cry and threw her arms around me. She told me that she had received some devastating news about 20 minutes before and had prayed that God would send someone to be with her. I told her it had been just about 20 minutes before that I'd had the thought to go there.
By now, we had everyone's attention at the stand. Turning around and seeing everyone looking at us hugging, this young woman, with tears running down her cheeks, said, "The Lord sent this lady here today, just when I needed her."
I walked back to the van, opened the door, and got in. As I was pulling out of the parking lot, I looked back in the rearview mirror. I saw this young woman with her hands raised to the sky saying, "Thank you, Jesus."
I was also thanking Jesus for this delightful day and what He had taught me by answering my question, "Is this really You?" Do you think I believe God still speaks to people? You bet I do!
