Remembered Again

A week ago my sons and I were eating out at DQ. We got there before the evening rush and sat in the back. As we ate more and more people began filling in. I knew none of them and wondered how many of them knew my husband. Then I saw an adorable little girl in a beautiful flowered dress bounce through the crowd holding on to her daddy's hand. I smiled and in my mind said, Cherish your daddy, little one. Much later, that same little girl came bouncing up to us with her daddy. And it turned out her daddy was an old classmate of mine. He asked how we were doing and I usually dread answering this. It is a loaded question that most people don't really want to know the answer to. But as I searched his face for how best to answer memories flashed through my mind. Just days after my husband's death his wife and him sent us a card and I learned that they had recently had a precious baby die. This brother-in-Christ knew my companion Grief and so I answered with a heavy sigh and held back tears that we were doing alright and that God was good. Nodding his head he replied, Yes He is. We chatted briefly, his little girl and my boys, then right before they left he handed me a $20 bill! I tried to give it back saying we didn't need it, but he wouldn't listen and told me to just thank God and keep remembering God is good. I fought to hold back the tears as we finished and headed out to the van. It wasn't so much my old classmate's actions that touched my heart so. It was the God I knew who prompted his heart that touched my heart so. God knew how I felt so forgotten. How I longed not to be the single parent balancing three boys in a restaurant. Once again, He was showing me.......I remember you. You see, we were gearing up to face the 3rd family reunion without my husband. And that just involves more emotions than words can explain. We didn't need the money, but my boys and I need a reminder that we were not alone. Jesus knows our hearts and cares so much about us. I don't think I will ever spend that $20, but I have tucked in somewhere were I will see it often as a reminder of God's love and watch care over us. "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the the palms of my hands....." Isaiah 49:15-16