While I was at work today I met a woman named Judy. For work I stand in a wholesale club store and demo certain products for the members shopping. A part of my job description is literally to talk to EVERYONE. I hit a point in my day when all I was thinking about was how much my foot was hurting and how badly I wanted to just sit down and rest for five minutes. I waited for a moment when my section of the store was empty - it was a busy day, and this hadn't happened so far, so as soon as it did, I was ready to just go sit down for a few minutes. As I was about to remove the uniform top I was wearing (yes, I had another shirt underneath) I saw this woman approaching me and something made me stop in my tracks, I left my uniform top on, picked up my demo bottle of pain relief cream, walked over to her and began my spiel...
..."just rub this over the area you get the most aches and pains..."
Judy looked up at me at, pointed to her left thumb and said, "I'm in pain all over my body, but this spot hurts the most. Can you just put some on my thumb?"
There was something about the way she said that, I had no doubt her body hurt, she walked straight, bur somehow I just knew she wasn't exaggerating about how much pain she was in. I noticed her right hand was a little shaky, so when she reached over to rub the cream into her left thumb, I offered to do it for her. I massaged the pain cream into her trembling hand and I could feel her muscles relax a little bit as I began to chat with her.
There was something in her expression I couldn't exactly read at first, she closed her eyes for a few seconds then looked at me and gave me one of the most beautiful and genuine smiles I have ever received. "That feels great! You have no idea how much I was hurting before you did that, and now I feel like I can move my thumb a little." I smiled back and caught myself thinking of how silly I must be to have suddenly shot up to a ten on the excitement scale because Judy could move her thumb "a little." Just as I was getting ready to move on with my product information, she looked told me she could feel the stuff working and how she didn't believe it would at first. Before I could respond, she told me she had just finished her first round of chemo and she would love to have this pain cream to put on after her next session... I wanted to cry all of a sudden. I'd only known Judy for about a minute and a half at this point and I already hated the fact that she had to have cancer.
Judy confided in me that she and her husband hadn't started telling people about her cancer yet, and she wasn't sure why she'd told me. I'm glad she did. I can't do anything more than pray for her, and ask all of you reading this to join me in adding Judy to your own prayers, but something in me just swelled with love for this woman, I could feel her strength radiate and I felt something even more, from this women than hadn't even known me for five minutes I felt love. She saw something in me that made her feel love, and the fact that I could reciprocate love without even realizing it, was amazing!
Her husband walked up to us at this point, he was wearing a blue shirt with American flag suspenders, on the back of the suspenders was the word JUDY, so I exclaimed "MR JUDY! I'm glad you could join us!"
Judy held up her left hand, moved her thumb and with one of the biggest smiles I've ever seen said, "I can move my thumb!!!"
At this point Mr Judy leaned over and gave me a HUGE hug, and whispered "I saw you helping her, I didn't think I'd see her smile today. Thank you" I took everything in me not to cry right then and there, because the reality of it is that I may have rubbed cream into her hand, but Judy did more for me in under five minutes than I could possibly have done for her. She saw past her own pain and showed me love in a way I don't really know how to put into words.
So, send a prayer up for Judy, and remember, we can show love in ways we don't expect, but most of all, God will always send us love in moments He knows we need it - even if we don't know it ourselves.
..."just rub this over the area you get the most aches and pains..."
Judy looked up at me at, pointed to her left thumb and said, "I'm in pain all over my body, but this spot hurts the most. Can you just put some on my thumb?"
There was something about the way she said that, I had no doubt her body hurt, she walked straight, bur somehow I just knew she wasn't exaggerating about how much pain she was in. I noticed her right hand was a little shaky, so when she reached over to rub the cream into her left thumb, I offered to do it for her. I massaged the pain cream into her trembling hand and I could feel her muscles relax a little bit as I began to chat with her.
There was something in her expression I couldn't exactly read at first, she closed her eyes for a few seconds then looked at me and gave me one of the most beautiful and genuine smiles I have ever received. "That feels great! You have no idea how much I was hurting before you did that, and now I feel like I can move my thumb a little." I smiled back and caught myself thinking of how silly I must be to have suddenly shot up to a ten on the excitement scale because Judy could move her thumb "a little." Just as I was getting ready to move on with my product information, she looked told me she could feel the stuff working and how she didn't believe it would at first. Before I could respond, she told me she had just finished her first round of chemo and she would love to have this pain cream to put on after her next session... I wanted to cry all of a sudden. I'd only known Judy for about a minute and a half at this point and I already hated the fact that she had to have cancer.
Judy confided in me that she and her husband hadn't started telling people about her cancer yet, and she wasn't sure why she'd told me. I'm glad she did. I can't do anything more than pray for her, and ask all of you reading this to join me in adding Judy to your own prayers, but something in me just swelled with love for this woman, I could feel her strength radiate and I felt something even more, from this women than hadn't even known me for five minutes I felt love. She saw something in me that made her feel love, and the fact that I could reciprocate love without even realizing it, was amazing!
Her husband walked up to us at this point, he was wearing a blue shirt with American flag suspenders, on the back of the suspenders was the word JUDY, so I exclaimed "MR JUDY! I'm glad you could join us!"
Judy held up her left hand, moved her thumb and with one of the biggest smiles I've ever seen said, "I can move my thumb!!!"
At this point Mr Judy leaned over and gave me a HUGE hug, and whispered "I saw you helping her, I didn't think I'd see her smile today. Thank you" I took everything in me not to cry right then and there, because the reality of it is that I may have rubbed cream into her hand, but Judy did more for me in under five minutes than I could possibly have done for her. She saw past her own pain and showed me love in a way I don't really know how to put into words.
So, send a prayer up for Judy, and remember, we can show love in ways we don't expect, but most of all, God will always send us love in moments He knows we need it - even if we don't know it ourselves.
