Public recognotion

I normally do not like people to notice me.
If given a choice I would not get up in front of people. No attention please!
Now you all know where my little Jellibean gets her quirks!
But yesterday I really apprecited my public recognition. In fact it seems that it was God ordained, which is even cooler because then it seems to be a message from God himself. That gives me goosebumps!
Now, please understand that I am not sharing this in order to toot my own horn.
I've seen the amazingness of God in this and how He always knows just when we need a little pick-up or word of encouragement to make it through another day.
My rule for the kids when we are all out somewhere together is to stay together. When we first pile out of the van everyone must stay right next to the car until everyone is ready to walk through the parking lot or cross the street together.
But yesterday Jellibean lost her head. She jumped out of the van and skipped into the street with her head in the clouds. My heart leaped into my throat. No cars....thank God! But I wanted to scream at her! I work so hard to teach my kids what's safe and right. When they do something so stupid as dashing into the street without a thought, it really makes me want to scream. Like maybe screaming will create such a fear in them that they will remember for the rest of their lives that dashing into the street means mom will scream.
But when I really think about it, I realize that the more important thing is to teach them that running into the street could be deadly, and that they are so precious to me I could not live without one of them if something bad happened. Somehow I know that will stick in their heads longer than any angry screaming. So, I called Jellibean in from the road and got down to her level.
What would I do without you? You have to remember not to cross the street without me! You could get hurt and I would be sad forever! Jesus was watching over you today. Do you understand?
Then we took hands and continued across the road into the store.
There was a young black women there ringing the bell for the salvation army. She stopped me. She first told me that she was also a mother and that my girls were so pretty.
Well, thank you...
But she went on. She said "I just have to tell you...I saw what just happened with her running into the street...I don't know if you go to church or not but I do..."
I felt the spirit turn...ahhh....a God fearing woman. Still a stranger but now really not so much! I told her we did attend a church.
"Oh good - then you know - the bible says to train up a child in the way they shoud go. It says they will grow up in their own ignorance if there is no training. And we all know that the ignorance of a child can get them into some big time trouble with the law, with their school, with their families. And it's our job to train them so that doesn't happen. I just wanted you to know that as a mother I really appreciated how you handled that situation with you litte girl. Most moms just scream and yell and tell that child they gonna whoop their butts if they run out in the road ever again...but you took the time to talk to her. And that's called training a child in the way they sould go."
WOW! I told her thank you for that encouragement and went on my way. But the more I thought about it the more I realized how right she was. And I really was encouraged. And I was really excited too. Because my whole calling as a God fearing woman is to stand apart from the crowd. To be noticeably different and have people say, "What does she have that I don't have...I want it too!" And thus open the door of their heart for Jesus to jump in with his still small voice. Or sometimes with the voice of a salvation army bell ringer!