Before I tell you this story… I want to make it abundantly clear that I believe in prayer- strongly believe in prayer, I love to pray for people and for them to pray for me…but sometimes- well, let’s just say unexpected things happen to me. For some reason, when I grocery shop- unusual things happen. You will certainly recall the Windmill Cookies.Well, I was in a hurry- rushing through the grocery store, I got over to the milk section. The rest of the store wasn’t busy, for some reason- there was a run on milk, so I pushed off in the direction of the bacon and right there was someone I knew I knew. Has that ever happened to you? You know you know someone but your mind is elsewhere- like back there with the milk -then there was the ‘racing against the clock’ thing. Anyway, she said the dreaded thing- ‘You don’t recognize me, do you?’ Oh Lord, help me. I said ‘Yes I do! how are you?’ The ‘Oh Lord’ prayer wasn’t working- ‘You were looking at my gray hair, weren’t you?’  Uh no…I was looking at the two tiny bandages on her forehead not her hair but how charming can you be with that? So I said- . ‘Oh honey, it looks just fabulous on you!’ I covered myself on the two tiny bandages thing- Lord help me.  I said ‘Well, I wish I had never dyed mine’…Then out of the blue she said- ‘I heard you wrote a book!’ I mumbled ‘Yes, I did’ said something about the book had been out a couple of years and I had been shocked to get a few royalty checks. The milk section was now clear but I was not out of the clear…I was stuck.

After being chastised about not promoting the book and saying to me over and over, you need to do that!  I toId her that even though I  was in retail all of my life- could sell anything but ‘for some reason I just can’t bring myself to properly promote the book, especially a Bible Study because there are soo many good ones out there…’  We went round and round…I was beginning to get nervous and exposed, right there by the bacon and the bologna and the milk… She grabbed me up, locked eyes with me and said ‘Would you mind if I pray for you?’

‘No, I don’t mind. I hope you will’ She said, ‘Right here, right now?’ … I am thinking…right here by the bacon, the bologna and the milk.. ‘Well, just let her go ahead, Lord…’

I must say right here that by the bacon and the bologna- there is an entrance to the stock room, occasionally a grocery worker pushed by us- with garbage or some stock. However, right that minute no one was around and I just gave way to it all…thinking it was sweet…it would be ok, it was precious really…no problem and the best time saver would be to just let her go ahead…  She had me in a buggy lock anyway…so buggy to buggy, squeezing my hands, looking at me straight in the eye- like ‘Let’s do this’…She began praying…’Lord give her confidence, give her the will to do what You want her to do with this book…’ Swoosh…a big haul of something went by. She kept praying – ‘Lord give her this, Lord give her that’ …Lord, Lord, Lordie mercy! I kept my eyes closed as tight as I could. Then boom- a loaded cart hit the buggies- I startle easily. I sort of jumped, she just held on tighter, kept praying fervently. By now, I’m praying…hard. Lord, help me. I cleared my throat. I cracked open one eye…and she had her eye cracked open just as she was saying …‘Lord, I’m talking to You just like she isn’t here…’

Well, it was getting crowded now near the bacon and the bologna.. and that just put me over the top. I suffer, I suffer…from inappropriate laughter– it wasn’t the cracked eye, it wasn’t the prayer- I just lost it- over the top laughter. Bursting with laughter. Thankfully she is a delightfully funny person herself. Thank You Lord! She burst out laughing too! I think the term here is ‘she busted out laughing’. I thanked her, she let go of me…I told her I needed to go…she did too. I pushed off toward the milk, grabbed a carton- headed to the Deli section. One of the workers, a friendly sort said ‘honey, that was about an hour and a half long chat you was havin’ … They know me.  My eyes darted to the wall clock. I said ‘Look, my husband’s waiting, do you think you could get me a plate lunch with some of that country fried steak and rice?’ The clerks see me in there all the time, as I said- they. know. me. She said ‘Are you alright? I’ve never seen anybody who can get hung up like you do.. that gets caught by folks in this store’ as she was dipping up the plate lunch. I said, ‘Well, that’s true’…then she said, ‘What was that about?’ I cleared my throat and sheepishly, with fear and trepidation I said….’Well, you see- I wrote a book…’

I want all of you to know-  I need all the prayer I can get- I am so thankful to God, He helped me write this book.  I am still not comfortable promoting it. However, for some reason known only to God- here we are- four years later and I still get a royalty check every now and then. I still suffer from getting ‘caught’ in the grocery store, and from time time I continue to display inappropriate laughter. Though, I do love to laugh in general. This week, I wanted to share another book with you, while we are celebrating our new library in my home town.

Love y’all, Camellia

‘Four Days the Lazarus Principle’ can be found here- at Amazon.com