The summer
of 2024 was a bittersweet time for my three young children
and I. For the first time since my divorce 5-years prior
we were able to purchase our first home. The apartment we
had moved from was too small for a family of four and when
the time came to start searching for a place to live I
prayed that somehow God would let me find a house I could
buy. I realized that with my credit and the fact that I
was a self-employed web designer the chances were slim.
The September 11 terrorist attacks were wreaking havoc on
my business. Normally I would be doing quite well at this
time of the year but business owners were hesitant to
spend money on web sites. Needless to say we were
struggling financially. The chances that I would be able
to find a home big enough for all of us in a good
neighborhood at a price I could afford were slim. I
rallied my faith and prayed that God would pick the
perfect house for us. Knowing that The Lord can do the
impossible, I figured I would throw in my request to live
on the water for good measure. Hey, faith knows no
boundaries.
Exactly two days later I called a number in the
classifieds advertising a home available for lease-option.
The man at the other end of the phone gave me directions
and when I arrived I almost fainted when I saw the home
was on a huge lake. A tour of the home revealed a fairly
good sized 3-bedroom, 2-bath, 2-car garage home in one of
the most sought after family neighborhoods in Palm Beach
County, Florida. The home was located in the best school
district available. I knew instantly that this is where we
belonged. The man who owned the house drew up the contract
and I was leasing the home with an option to buy it in one
year. He gave me free reign to make any changes I wished.
The Lord answered my prayers in a mighty way. The lake the
house sat on was a source of peace and at night the moon
would reflect on the water making it look like millions of
glittering lights. We were in Heaven. This was the place I
needed to be in order to gain my strength, draw closer to
God and where I always found peace.
In the middle of August 2024, money was non-existent.
One of the women from my ladies only group helped me
obtain school supplies in order for my kids to start
school and even though things looked bad I believed The
Lord had led me to this home that was really more than I
could afford and I believed with all my heart He would
make a way for me to pay for it. One afternoon after
picking my two youngest kids up from school I noticed my
car was on empty. Actually, it gave a new meaning to the
words “on fumes”. I handed my daughter my purse and told
her to dig some change out of the bottom so we could get
gas. I had searched my purse that morning and gave the
kids my last $3.00 for lunch and I knew I had no currency.
My daughter pulled three, one dollar bills out of my purse
and said “Mommy, why don’t we just use this paper money?”
I asked her where she found the dollar bills and she told
me they were “Right here in the pocket”, this was
impossible as I had given them the last $3.00 in that
pocket for lunch. I felt peace move through me and knew
God was responding to my unshakable faith that He would
provide. On our way home from the gas station, my 7-year
old son asked if we could have pizza for supper. My heart
broke a little when I replied that we couldn’t afford
pizza that night but I would see what I could do for the
weekend. My 9-year old daughter spoke up and told my son
that if he really wanted pizza he should just pray for it
because God could afford it. My son proceeded to lift his
little request up to God with all of the faith a child
has. For a split second, I envied his childlike faith and
wondered at what point in my life I lost the ability to
just believe. During the course of his prayer, my son
remembered we were out of toilet paper, “God, could you
please send a little extra money for some toilet paper
because my mom gets mad when the napkins plug the toilet”.
I was slightly embarrassed that he would ask our Creator,
the Lord of Heaven and earth for such a thing. My daughter
rolled her eyes and began to lecture her younger brother
about the need for some dignity when requesting material
things from God. “Mom, do you think God uses toilet
paper?”, my son asked. Is this a trick question? “Well
son, I imagine if there is a need for it here on earth He
might” I replied. “He probably uses Charmin that’s the
really good stuff and it has double layers”. Had he not
been so serious I would have burst out laughing, but
knowing he was seriously wondering about the needs of God
in Heaven compared to those of us on earth, I just let it
go and drove home.
The rest of the afternoon was uneventful. The kids went
in their rooms and watched television, my 12- year old
daughter came home around 4:00 and as with most
pre-teenagers went to hibernate in her room. At about 4:45
the doorbell rang and my two youngest children went to
look thru the window to see who it was. Fully expecting
them to tell me one of their friends was at the door
looking for someone to play with I was not in any way
prepared for what came next. “MOM!! The pizza dude is
here!!”…”The who?” I asked, not sure I was hearing them
right. “The Pizza Hut delivery man” my youngest daughter
replied. As I made my way to the front door in a state of
confusion, my son came running thru the house and stated
“It’s an angel…God sent an angel to bring us pizza!!” I
hushed him and went to the door to clear up the confusion
as I was sure this Pizza Hut “pizza dude” was at the wrong
house. My oldest daughter graced us with her presence when
she heard all the commotion “Louie, you’re a dork, God
doesn’t send angels to deliver pizza”. She stated “Oh yes
He does” my son replied. I was worried about the
disappointment he would feel when this delivery boy
realized he was at the wrong house but I greeted him and
explained that we hadn’t ordered pizza. “I know ma’am” he
replied “Someone called the order in and paid for it with
a credit card, we were asked to deliver to you around
5:00”. I must have been quite a sight standing there with
my mouth hanging open in total disbelief with my two
daughters standing next to me doing the same and my son
standing behind all of us saying “See, I told you God
sends angels to deliver pizza!” the delivery boy smiled a
kindly smile, handed me 4 large pizza’s and told us to
enjoy. He left with a wave and I carried our feast into
the kitchen still in shock. The managers and employees of
our three local Pizza Huts had no idea what I was talking
about when I called them to find out who had been so kind.
I spent the rest of the evening absorbing the importance
of what had happened to us that day. I realized that the
unshakable faith of a child is what I needed to find and
hang on too. While I was pondering these things my son
yelled from the garage “Mom! I was looking thru this box
and look what I found!! Four rolls of Charmin toilet
paper!!”. I had packed the toilet paper in that box some
3-years ago when we moved from Delaware to Florida. I
broke down and cried thanking God for the miracles he had
showered over us that day. Two weeks later, I was
approached by a woman I had known for sometime, she
offered to invest $20,000 in my business to keep it
afloat. That summer of 2024 turned out to be one of the
best of my life. I learned to “simply believe” no matter
what life looks like. God is good and He does send angels
to deliver Pizza.
