Tender Mercies

Today I felt one of Heavenly Fathers tender mercies as I ran to Wal-Mart to make a quick stop. After coming out of Wal-Mart, I opened the van door and felt the heat inside the van rush out.  As I was loading the van a homeless women approached me and asked if she could help. I said no thank you, I only had a few more bags and I could manage. She then asked if I had money. I told her that I would give her all I had. Unfortunately, I only had about 80 cents. She gratefully took the money and was on to the next person. I laid Toby in his car seat and closed the door. As I approached the drivers side door, I realized that I had locked the keys in the van, along with Toby. I turned to my right to find a woman on her cell phone, I quickly told her about my situation and asked to borrow her phone. As I had been borrowing my mom's van, I called her. She answered and told me she would be there as soon as she could find a ride. Just then the homeless woman appeared, with one of her friend's. They began looking for something to break into the van with. Almost at the same moment,  a construction man in a truck pulled up and asked if I had locked my keys in the van. I told him, "Yes!"  And that I had also locked with my infant son inside the van! I was a complete wreck,  tears streaming down my face; by then, the homeless women were both comforting me,  telling me that my son would be alright. One of the homeless women ran into the store and told someone there about the situation. While she was in there, she tore some metal off of one of the store shelves hoping to use it to unlock the van door. By then the man that had pulled over, along with another man that had parked near us, had found a metal bar that they hoped would work to unlock the van. The man in the truck began pealing the rubber away from the drivers side window. Warning me that the window might shatter, he proceeded to try and unlock the door.   He soon got the door unlocked! I felt like collapsing. I threw the door open and embraced Toby with tears streaming down my face. He was covered in sweat. I turned the air conditioning on high and continued to make sure that Toby was okay. The man got a rag from his truck soaked it with ice cold water, and he began wiping Toby down with it, cooling him off and talking to him. Now sobbing in relief and of course from some embarrassment, I asked him how I could repay him for his kindness. He simply replied, “This is reward enough.” I will never forget the sweet kindness of all of the people that were so willing to help. For the woman who willingly lent me her phone, for the homeless women hugging me and comforting me, for the man who found the metal bar, and  mostly for the man who rescued Toby. For his comforting words, for his gentleness and for the way he greeted Toby when we finally got him out. The Lord is mindful of us. I know that He shows His love for us through others and I truly felt that today.