Posted on 07/28/2017 5:06:56 AM PDT by Kaslin
The Walmart shoppers were growing impatient.
It was late on a Friday night in Newcastle, Oklahoma and many of the customers were grumbling and complaining about the lady at the front of the line.
The lady was a bit frazzled – juggling three hyperactive kids while trying to unload groceries on the conveyer belt.
“I asked her if it had been one of those days,” cashier Nicholas Tate said. “She said it had been.”
The woman explained that she was a foster parent and she had just signed up for a federal program that helps low-income families – WIC.
“She apologized beforehand because she was using WIC and had never used it before,” the Austin Bible Institute student said.
The 20-year-old cashier smiled and reassured the foster mom that it would not be a problem.
Unfortunately, there was a problem. Several of the transactions did not process – including the one of the most important items – baby formula. He swiped the card again, but it still did not work.
Nicholas summoned a manager for assistance – but in all the chaos he heard a voice.
“I felt like God was calling for me to pay for her bill,” he said. “It was without a doubt – God was saying, ‘Pay for this.’”
And that’s exactly what he did – swiping his own credit card to pay for the $60 worth of groceries. The foster mom burst into tears and left the store.
Nicholas is a Christian – a student at Austin Bible Institute. He’s hoping to become a missionary to Honduras.
“When God tells me to do something, I do it,” he said. “God told me, ‘I put you in this place at the right time and I knew you were ready for this – to pay for this. So without hesitation, I pulled my card out and swiped it.”
A few days later, a customer approached Nicholas inside Walmart and showed him a Facebook post – asking if he was the cashier mentioned in the posting.
It turned out the foster mom was so overcome with emotion that she had not thanked Nicholas for his kindness. So she wrote a message on Facebook hoping to learn the young man’s name.
And thanks to the power of social networking – Nicholas and the foster mom were reunited.
“It was pretty cool getting to talk to her,” he said.
Nicholas told me he was surprised at how many people have heard about the encounter.
“I was just trying to bless someone and make their day and it turned into something incredible,” he said.
It wasn’t too long before the television stations came a-calling with promises to make Nicholas famous – but that’s really not what this story is about.
“It’s not what I did,” Nicholas told me. “It’s what God did through something so small. He took something so small and He glorified his name with it.”
In Sunday school, we learned to proclaim the name of the Lord – to make known His deeds – to make His name famous.
Nicholas Tate made known the deeds of God on a Friday night in Newcastle, Oklahoma – at a Walmart checkout counter.
If you'd like to contribute to Nick's mission trip fund - click here!
sezyou
True. Far too many times it’s a scam.
However, foster parents can be in the system for months and months before getting paid. I’m betting the welfare office screwed up that woman’s card. Back when I was a CPS worker, my muzzy supervisor was the worst for getting paperwork processed especially when females were involved. There was one kid who was in a foster home for six months and the paperwork “disappeared” never mind I’d been calling about it constantly. Another time the muzzy drove off with a box of files on his trunk. He was a horrid man. First time I met him, he said he didn’t like me. A few months later, I tried to give him a watermelon (that’s what Texans do) and he literally jumped back like it was a snake. The creep ran off every worker in our multi-county area but they kept him on because he was the token muzzy. I was the last to finally quit out of fear of somehow him screwing something up so much I’d end up behind bars - yes, it was that bad. Wouldn’t you know, a few days after I quit, HQ called demanding I explain why all my files were missing. Well, duuuuuh!
He hears God talking to him. All Christians do if you know how to listen.
Feast of Trumpets. I am looking forward to meeting my Freeper brothers and sisters in Christ.
You've got it figured out to the very day? Marshall Applewhite, is that you?
I don’t listen to anyone who doesn’t hear God’s voice, it has been the dumbing down of our churches, leaders who don’t hear God nor know the joy of His power, make up their own directions.
Jesus wept on Palm Sunday because the Jews could have calculated the Day of His first coming from Daniel 9. Daniel 12 combined with Revelation 12 gives us the day of His second coming and the events that lead to it. I for one don’t want Jesus to cry again because of my not watching.
Did you determine whether there was some cultural significance to that, other than ignorance? Curious.
“Isn’t that obvious?”
It certainly is.
Wow! Just wow. Sad story.
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