A simple trip to Walmart leads to an unexpected encounter between an atheist and a woman of faith. Coincidence or something more? You decide.
A curious thing happened today. On my way to the lake, I stopped at the Walmart to pick up some tortillas. And as I swung around to park, I saw that someone had left a shopping cart in the spot.
I parked, and wheeled the cart to the shopping cart bay. Then I turned to go into the store. But the shopping cart had developed a mind of its own. The wheels abruptly turned and it began to head into the parking lot. I grabbed it as it crashed into another cart. While I was straightening out the carts, I noticed that there was something stuck in the bottom of the second cart.
A set of keys.
I freed the keys, and looked for an address tag. There wasn't one. (There never is.) There was only a Christian key fob with an image of three nails.
Once in the store, I made my way to the Service counter, where I waited patiently. Several people were ahead of me. (The woman in front of me complained bitterly about having to wait in line.) Eventually, it was my turn, but right as I approached the counter, an anxious-looking woman came up, and said something about keys.
I held up the keys. She said, "Oh! Where did you find them?"
"They were in a shopping cart in the parking lot."
"I looked for them everywhere, and couldn't find them! So, I said a prayer," she said. A look of wonder spread across her face. "You are an Angel."
I don't believe in prayer. I am an atheist, and a third generation atheist at that. But even I had to admit that here was a marvelous confluence of events - the shopping cart had suddenly developed a mind of its own, the wait at the Service counter was just long enough for both of us to arrive simultaneously. It was not a miracle, just a set of coincidences.
Nevertheless, I had just reaffirmed a woman's faith in a God I did not believe in.
The woman stroked my arm reverently with the back of her hand, smiled joyously, and wished me a wonderful day.
About Erica Verrillo
Erica Verrillo has written seven books and published five. She doesn't know why anyone with an ounce of self-preservation would ever want to publish. But, if you insist on selling your soul to the devil, learn how to do it right: marketing, literary agents, book promotion, editing, pitching your book, how to get reviews, and ... most important of all ... everything she did wrong.
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Now! This is inspiring and at the sometime a heartfelt story. There are a lot of lesson after reading it.
It is a lovely story. I love helping people, and your post made me smile. Thank you for sharing.
It is hard to believe in coincidence lately. I have had some interesting coincidences in my life recently that are just so strange. I enjoyed reading this piece.
What a beautiful story. It is like a cart knows where the women is. I am glad she has found the keys and how happy she was.
Great story. Personally, I would not have even paid attention to the comment so literally. I would have just happy to help her get her keys back.
What a wonderful story! I’m glad you found her keys and I will say I don’t believe in coincidences; I believe God is in everything even miracles
That’s great that you were able to reunite the keys with their owner. Not sure it was divine intervention personally. I’m an atheist myself, although strange and mostly good things always seem to happen around me so I’m calling it karma.
This is a great and touching story. I was inspired, and that’s difficult to do.
It’s amazing how something as small as lost keys can lead to such a powerful moment of faith!
It really resonated with me the way that you portray the intersection of chance and faith! I love that you left it open for the reader to determine whether it was coincidence or something deeper.
What a beautiful story! Sometimes coincidences are miracles in disguise. I am glad you had found the woman’s set of keys. God knew you were the right one to give it back to her!
Maureen | http://www.littlemisscasual.com
I loved reading her stories. I’ve always said that coincidences are just what we mere mortals call miracles.
Lovely story of a good deed! That’s wonderful that you can find inspirational stories to blog about on the regular
Your story about lost keys and found faith is so moving and inspiring! I love how you explore the power of belief and the unexpected ways life brings us hopeโthank you for sharing this beautiful tale!
Thank you for sharing her story. Sometimes there is orderliness in chance events. I think we’ve all experienced events such as this and whether it be serendipity or a higher power is up to us to decide.