Mom and Pop Store Blessing

It is Saturday and my King had me drive south of the ghetto. I arrived at what you would call the mom-and-pop grocery store. It looked like it has been here forever. God said to be here because there will be families. These families had been using a line of credit and the store will not let them proceed further.

I was sitting there and praying. There were only two cars in the parking lot. They belonged to the people who work there. Because of the size of the store I was beginning to wonder if anybody would show up. As usual God said, “Wait, they will be showing up.” So I continued to pray for these families that were going to show up. I then thanked God for the day. Soon I heard a knock on my passenger side door. I then looked in my mirror and I could see that there was a little girl standing there. I then climbed out of my pickup and went around to see what she wanted. When I made eye contact with her she said, “I just read what you have on your door. You have Isaiah 41:10 written on your door. My grandma has a plaque in her living room that has that verse on it.” She began quoting that scripture to me. She then said, “I just love that verse. Are you a preacher?”

I replied, “I minister to gangs on the streets.”

She then asked, “Can you come and pray for my parents? They need more faith.”

I told her that I would. I picked my Bible up off the seat of my pickup and brought it with me. She began walking me to the south side of the store. Her parents were sitting at a picnic table. They then asked, “Where did you go Susan?”

Susan began pointing and replied, “I saw this big monster truck over there and I wanted to go look at it. He had the scripture that grandma has in her living room on his pickup. He has Isaiah 41:10 on his pickup door. I then asked him to come here and pray with you because you need more faith.”

I then asked, “How can I pray for you guys?”

A mom reached into her purse and pulled up a piece of paper that was folded in half. She then handed it to me and said, “You can pray for that.” I knew that it was a grocery list without even opening it up. Instead of putting my hand on the list, I physically placed God’s word right on top of it. I began praying over it and the mom began to cry.

Her sister then came with her husband and two little boys. They asked, “Are you a minister? We need a miracle. We are barely making it. Right now we are living paycheck to paycheck. And sometimes we have moments like this where we cannot buy anything.”

I asked, “So both of you families are here for miracle to buy groceries? And now you don’t have any money.” I paused a bit, then said, “I want to tell you what God is doing through blue Mustang…”

One of her sons interrupted and asked, “You talk to a car! Why do you talk to a car?”

I said, “No, it’s a man. A gang called the “Latinos” gave him that nickname.” The little boy then replied, “Oh! so it’s a person that drives a blue Mustang?”

I then explained, “If God gives you a ministry and you don’t follow through with it then people won’t get blessed. I have found out that God will cause a ripple effect when you do what you are told.”

While I was talking to both families this huge 1964 Buick pulls up to us. An older couple climbed out of the car. They were the sisters parents. They said, “We stopped at both of your homes and you were not there.  We figured that you would be over here. We got our income tax back and we want to pay off your bill at the store. We know that you have a bill here and we want to pay it off.”

They then looked at me and asked, “Who is this man?”

I introduced myself and the little boy asked me to tell them about Blue Mustang. So I told them about who blue Mustang was. So the father then asked, “So Blue Mustang helps families who are hungry? He gives them money to buy groceries?”

I said, “Yes, that is why I am here.”

He then said, “These are my daughter’s. Sometimes we can help them and sometimes we cannot.”

Susan then asked, “How much are we getting blessed with?”

I replied,  “I give $140 to each family so they can buy groceries.” Both husbands started crying after I said this.

Susie exclaimed, “That means that I get to have cereal. I have been craving cereal all week long.”

One of the husbands whose name was Ishmael said, “I want to pray for Blue Mustang.” He began praying for Blue Mustang and his family. He then immediately began praying for me and the ministry that God gave me. He then prayed for his father-in-law still standing by me.

The mom said, “If Blue Mustang has a ministry like that, God is going to bless him a thousand fold.”

These people understand the blessings of God. I said, “He does it to bless other people.”

She replied, “That is true. But God sees his heart and it is beautiful.” She then prayed that God would bless Blue Mustang a thousand fold before May 7.” This is the first time I ever had somebody pray with the date in it. I then handed them the money and they began crying.

One of the other little girls then asked, “So does that mean we get to have groceries today.”

I confirmed that it was so.

She then said, “Thank you Lord and thank you Blue Mustang.” She then asked, “Do you know anybody else who has cool names?”

I replied, “Yes, there’s Terry Bird.”

She then exclaimed, “Is he related to Big Bird?”

I played along with her and said, “Yes.”

Their dad went inside to pay the bill.

The gentleman that owned the store said,  “Their bill is already paid off. I received my income tax money and God told me to invest it in families. I picked seven families to cancel their bills. Yours was one of them.”

The sisters dad then asked, “How much money did my daughter’s owe?”

The owner replied, “Between both of them they owed about $150.”

This was not a lot, but how many stores would give you any credit? The families were even more amazed that God took care of their bill. God is faithful.

Susan said, “I am going to go get the cereal.” After the families picked up the groceries they wanted we went to check out. The owner of the store began praying out loud for the families and their parents.

After we left the store we headed back to my pickup. I noticed three homeless guys standing around it. One of them looked at me and asked what does that verse say on the door?”

Before I could say a word, Susan began quoting the verse Isaiah 41:10 to them. She then asked, “Are you guys hungry?”

They confirmed they were. Immediately Susan reached into their grocery bag and pulled out the loaf of bread, peanut butter and jelly. I put my tailgate down and she climbed up on it and began making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. The parents did nothing to stop her because they knew God well enough that it was only right to help them out. The parents stepped right in and started pouring them something to drink. They all realized the importance of giving to others.

The families were praying for a miracle and not only got blessed by Blue Mustang but the owner of the store paid off their credit so that their parents would not have to. They showed me their grocery list at the end and they only had three items on it. One small mustard, one small mayonnaise, baloney and bread. That was all they were planning on getting. Even with that small list that was impossible for them to pull off. They did not feel it was right to put more stuff on credit at this store. That is the reason why they were praying for a miracle.

The owner himself shared with me that there were 15 other people in the store who had credit. He said, “This Christmas I am going to bless them with gift cards so they can continue shopping here.” The owner definitely had a heart for people. I know that God will send me  wherever families are praying even if it is at a Mom and Pop store.