Little Big Moments

Frail, gray-haired, scared, wrinkle-blessed, and beautiful Lois approached the customer counter with shaking eyes and exhausted speech: "Can I please just get a decaf coffee?"

Her voice was defeated. Her eyes were tired of tears and it was not hard to tell. She made direct eye contact with the counter and nothing else.

Before I started her drink, I leaned over the counter and grabbed her hand:

"You WILL make it through this" I said reassuringly as I looked her in the eye.


Tears streaming down her face as she looked back at me, she just lost it.


Tears and tears as she explained her husband of 30 years has been here in the hospital for six weeks and in a coma. She said last night she asked God why, and told Him she had no other choice but to give up.

"Oh, don't give up, Lois. He is holding you AND Herbert." (Her husband's name that I had made out between her sniffles)


I held onto her hand as my heart ached for her and all she was going through as long as I could before another customer walked up. 

As she walked away with her coffee she looked back and mouthed the words Thank You as her tears continued to roll down her cheeks.

I felt my eyes begin to gather up salty tears as I helped the next round of customers that followed her. Remembering the hopelessness that I had felt when I was in the hospital, remembering the unrelenting pain in my heart of desperation.  

Lois felt that today. 

And even if for just five minutes I could hold her tightly, show her someone cared, and whisper a message of hope into her heart, that made today worth it. That is why God had me at work today.

Isn't that what we are called to? These small moments of extending hope to the hurting and showing them who Jesus is. Regardless of how sleepy we are, how weird we may look to the people around us, what kind of day we have had, or what the weather is like outside, God calls us to exhale back the same hope He first breathed into us. 

As I heard customer after customer complain about the cold weather outside I gritted my teeth with frustration. I am just as guilty of staying focused on such stupid and first-world issues, but the problem is that  we allow ourselves to stay in these places and ignore the people who are only inches away from losing all hope.

I may never see Lois again. But God sent her to me for five minutes to give the same message He is speaking over all of our lives:

You are loved.
You matter.
Hope is real.
You are not forgotten.
Trust Me.
Let Me hold you.
I will heal.

Who is God sending your way today? He will make it obvious who needs His words, but only if you're listening. 

-Han