Last week at the grocery store a young woman with her toddler passed me in an aisle. She stopped me to say, “I have seen you shopping in here before, and I just want to say that you encourage me, and give me hope.” She went on to explain that her 7-year-old daughter lost her sight at age 5 from eye cancer. Her little girl was doing well learning Braille, and had lots of friends. She related a story of how a stranger came up to her in front of her daughter saying how sad that it was that her little girl was blind. This 7-year-old spoke up for herself, not in a disrespectful way, but told the woman that she didn’t think it was sad; she was the fastest runner in her class!

I told this mom good for her daughter, and it sounded like she already had confidence, and would do very well becoming independent in her life. This little girl will grow up regarding blindness as normal for her, and it won’t stop her from achieving her dreams. As we parted to go on with our shopping, the mother told me that she was glad that she had a chance to talk to me—that I helped her to imagine her daughter one day living her own life, independently.

That exchange encouraged me, as well. We sometimes aren’t aware of when or how we are being used by God to help lift others up. It was one of those times you feel that the Lord was there in a “God moment.”