Pizza Hut in Atlanta

Well, we took a trip to Atlanta for a home school day at Six Flags. It was quite HOT! Hot enough in fact that Franklin ended up with heat exhaustion. He was actually quite sick and we were not able to do much at the park except rest and hydrate. What a day. And what a better way to end the day than at a Pizza Hut near the hotel we stayed in, don't ya think?. Yum.

Being a Friday night, we expected the restaurant to be crowded, but sometimes God will do things unexpectantly to acheive His purposes. It begins to pour down rain just as we got in and were seated. There was one waitress. ONE. On a Friday night. But there was only one other family in the whole dining room though. Kinda strange.

So our waitress comes over and God says "this is the one tonight." Well, to be honest with you, I didn't really want to be "on the clock" because we had had such an awful day with a sick child and being out of town and exhausted, I mean I was tired and just wanted to feed my family and go back to the hotel and crash.... but when the Boss calls, you just go with Him and do the stuff. He gives you strength. He really does. So we start making conversation with the waitress and find out she has been there all night by herself and that the dining room had previously been packed out. She was very tired and very worn out and very discouraged. And very drawn. There was one point where I almost invited her to sit with us, since she was hanging out with us so much as it was. :) I loved it! It was God that was drawing her near. He's such a good, good God!

Well, the evening progresses, menus are colored, bellies are filled, drinks are surprisingly not spilled, and it's time to pay and go back to the hotel for the night. So Frank commissions me to be the "one" (as if I didn't know already!) and he takes the kiddos out to the car, while I go up to the register to pay.

There she is, our unsuspecting target, who has already shared her life story with us, which included a 3 month old baby that she was single parenting, a pending move from whomever it is she was currently living with to be on her own, and plans to attend college in the fall for bigger than life dreams. And I have nothing. No words of knowledge, no prophetic vision, no angelic visitation, no beams of light, nothing.

So I walked up to her, handed her the payment, and she looked deeply in my eyes with that look of desperation. That look I am starting to become very familiar with in people who recognize that you have something living within you that they want. That Hope. That Jesus. That mighty, mighty Jesus.

And then it came. The words of LIFE and HOPE. Out of my mouth, without rehearsal. As I stood there, the first thing that happened was that I reached over and gave her a hug, kept my hand on her shoulder as I pulled away and remained face to face with her and out came, “God is here for you. He wants you to know that He has a plan for you bigger than anything you can imagine, and He is going to take care of you and of your little girl.” She replied with an unworthily, “I hope so.” Then I said, “God is going to supernaturally enable you to learn all the things you will need to learn to succeed in college, you are going to be amazed that you will learn that medical terminology so quickly and so easily, and you will know that it is God that is enabling you. He has something big in store for you and wants to bring you out of where you are now.” And that was it. Not that profound, really, but to this young lady, it was diamonds. She was beaming. In fact she begged me to please come back. I explained to her that I was from out of town and she was genuinely disappointed. Why? Was it ME she really wanted? No. It was the Presence that was with me. His Presence. I am nothing with out Him.

What would happen, if the next time you go to a restaurant, you speak words of life into your wait staff? What would really happen? Revival. That’s what would happen. Go love someone to LIFE this week!