Ch 7: Maria's Visit
It took sixteen years before I could finally make the full connection.
I grew up fully aware of just what constituted unacceptable behavior. There was no smoking, no drinking, and no gambling in our household. That’s how Mom was raised, and the rest of us (including Dad) were expected to fall in line. Mom even instructed me to turn away Catholic children selling raffle tickets door-to-door. And just forget about playing bingo (for money), or even playing games at an amusement park.
[Editor's Note: This article is Chapter 7 in my serialized memoir “Well Guided: My Life as a Student at the International Academy of God,” in which I share some of the many ways God has had a hand in my life. Access previous chapters via the Table of Contents.]
Gramma Was a Bad Influence
The summer I was six years old, I went to stay at Gramma Gladys’ house for two or three weeks. Gramma (Dad’s mother) lived in Gibsonia, PA, out in the country, where there wasn’t a lot to do. You mostly made your own entertainment. Gramma liked to play cards, so she taught me to play Canasta, Rummy, and Poker.
I came home toting a brown-paper lunch bag nearly bursting with pennies. Of course, right away Mom wanted to know where I had gotten all that cash. My innocent reply was, “I won them playing poker with Gramma.” Well…believe me that Gramma got a good talking to about what activities were and were not appropriate for her granddaughter to be engaged in on future visits!
So, when Husband and I opened a convenience store in 1999, I was concerned about how this conflicted with the values Mom had instilled in me. Here I was, about to tie my livelihood to some of the very things she hated: tobacco, alcohol, and gambling.
Then my spiritual mentor, Pastor Vicki, pointed out that owning a c-store would give me opportunities to let my light shine for those who might have turned away from God. And there was the fact that Husband and I felt like this move was what we were being led to do. With those thoughts in mind, we opened for business in 1999.
Customer with a Message
On December 3rd, 2007, our first shift manager, Deirdre, called me out of the office to help a customer with directions—a common request since the store was on an interstate. I knew all the nearby exits, so the cashiers relied on me to handle lost travelers.
Maria had come into the store looking for help finding her dentist’s office. She was 70-ish, Brazilian. Only her accent gave it away. Otherwise, she looked like 99% of the people who walked through our doors, with nothing unusual about her that would draw attention. Nothing in her dress or demeanor that would give away the fire that burned within.
Maria was confused about the directions she had scribbled on a piece of paper. Surprisingly, when we called her dentist, the receptionist informed us that they weren’t expecting Maria until January 3rd, a whole month later.
Thankful for our help, she bought coffee and chips and invited me to sit with her a minute, saying, “I think I’m here for a reason.”
I felt the same gentle nudge I feel when Spirit prompts me to pull out my journal. A message was about to be delivered. I took a seat.
Maria spoke about her past, her coming to America, her late husband, her decision to attend Bible college, and so on. After a while, I started to get anxious about all that bookwork piled up in my office.
No! Wait for it, I heard in my head.
Soon enough, Maria segued into a new story, about her late mother-in-law. This is it, I heard. This is why she’s here.
Maria’s Miracle Story
When she was 30-ish, Maria and her American husband had shared a house with his mother. Her husband’s side was Catholic, and her mother-in-law had all kinds of 18K gold statues of Mary around the house. The very things my mother would have called golden idols.
The mother-in-law was diabetic and had developed gangrene. A black streak ran the whole length of the leg, and the doctor urged her to amputate.
Then something remarkable happened—the Spirit revealed to Maria that for her mother-in-law to be cured, they would have to throw away the idols. Her mother-in-law, desperate to try anything that might save her leg, agreed. So, Maria filled three garbage bags with the beloved statues, and put them at the curb, ready for trash pick-up.
This was on a Friday—the usual trash pick-up day. Only there was some problem in the Sanitation Department, so the idols sat there, abandoned, until Monday, when they were picked up and crushed in the garbage truck. Tuesday morning, Maria’s mother-in-law woke up to find her leg completely restored.
As Maria told this story, I watched her body language change. I could see the energy building in her body. She was vibrating with spiritual energy, and as she talked about the things God had done for her, she began rocking back and forth, ever so slightly. In between stories, she would say, “God is so good.” I could only sit there in awe of what was happening. All I could think was, this must be what it’s like to be on fire for God.
Finally, she took a break from the stories and wondered aloud why she was there. She had left her home that morning, thinking she was heading to the dentist…and now this.
“It was for the story about the idols,” I said. I explained how that story related to my concerns about what we were selling in the store. All the stuff my mother hated: tobacco, alcohol, and gambling.
“Maybe you need to stop selling that stuff,” Maria said. “Maybe you should throw it all out.”
She had a point. After all, she had thrown out things she could have tried to sell.
“If you do this, if you throw it out, you’ll be rewarded with a great increase in business. Or, you could sell the store. But if you do that, you’ll just be passing along the idols to someone else.”
Idol Bookends
Selling Idols. As I thought about her story later, I remembered that back in our second year, one of our original cashiers had asked a minister on HIS Radio why we weren’t more profitable. “They’re selling idols,” was his response.
Eight years later, Maria told me the same thing.
And now, sixteen years after Maria’s visit, as I write this story, I see these messages as bookends.
The night of Maria’s visit, I purposefully wrote down all the details in my journal, so I wouldn’t forget. I couldn’t get her message out of my head. I asked God about it a few days later.
What am I to do about Maria’s words of counsel? I must be well-prepared before ever suggesting this to [Husband]. He would think I was losing it.
I received this guidance:
It is not for me to say whether or not to approach [Husband] with this idea. Continue to study it out in your own mind and only proceed if you have good arguments and good data on your side. This is not something I would ask you to do in faith. Too many lives are at risk – all your employees.
But know this – I will protect you from the evil that surrounds your business because of what you sell. Did I not promise my protection when Vicki blessed the store? “Get ye up then to the high places I have bid you occupy.” That’s what you sang that day and indeed what I had in mind when you opened the store.
Heed well Vicki’s counsel: be a light unto your community, be in the world but not of it. Let your light shine for peace and justice. Only you (and [Husband]) can do the job I need done in that store. I have given you good people to help on your mission (particularly Deirdre), so you must not do anything to put the mission (or them) in jeopardy.
So, the Spirit had let me know I was not being asked to stop selling idols. Not that day, anyhow. And besides, I knew Husband wouldn't have put up with it. It was back to business as usual.
An Early Warning System
Once again, the process of writing this book has led me to see things in a whole new light. Only recently did I realize that Maria’s visit happened just two weeks after the experience in the tiny Church of the Holy Apostles, on the far side of the Acropolis.
There was the presence I felt before exiting the ancient church. There was Maria’s body vibrating with spiritual energy as she talked about clearing out the idols. Both events were signposts pointing me toward the next step in my spiritual growth. They were gifts I would treasure, even as complete understanding of their meaning was yet to come.
I think now of the ceiling of that church—a patchwork of 1,000-year-old painted icons and recent white plaster patches. It looked like a puzzle, with pieces missing. God was there in full undeniable power, reassuring me that I was not going into the future alone. That experience was a sign of favor and grace. It took sixteen years before I could finally make the full connection, and let the final piece fall into place, so I could gaze upon God’s carefully designed work of art.
Then there was Maria’s visit. I see now that the significance of our conversation wasn’t just about her story, it was about her being on fire with spiritual energy. She was foreshadowing a future level of spirituality I have yet to more than briefly taste. (Another story for another time).
In hindsight, I see these two events as an early warning system. As mental preparation for the coming change. As 2007 ended, nothing was going on in the world to suggest we should, or would, sell. Yet, just six months after Maria’s visit, on June 12, we closed on the sale of the store and got out of the idol business. How that remarkable change happened was yet another God story.
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