Beach Encounter

Today, I went to the beach with my husband. We love going to Smith Point; it's an ocean beach and so beautiful! You can walk for miles if you want to; today we walked about two and a half. The waves were higher than normal as hurricane Lee is coming up the coast from south of us. He's not expected to make landfall here, but to just give us higher than normal tides, possible flooding and a big mess if he does. But we were just enjoying our time together, getting some exercise, and collecting shells. I found a piece of beach glass too, which is rarer and rarer here since recycling began and some ocean garbage dumping has stopped. Sea gulls made their usual appearances, and today there were lots of sandpipers. It looks like breeding season was successful for them as many of the birds were quite a bit smaller than others. When we got tired, we sat up near the pavillion and rested. As we were getting ready to leave, I was looking for info about which days the food pavilion would be open. Adam likes to go to this beach too, and once in a while we get him something to eat if it is. Paul kept walking, and I asked a woman who was there if she knew. There weren't any signs. She started chatting with me as she looked online; she was wondering the same thing. She was friendly and wanted to help. We never got exact dates, but it seems they're open from Thurdays through the weekend. Then she started talking about moving back here only recntly, how her life was going, and about the terrible scar on her leg, which I had tried hard not to look at. She said she had a terrible car accident many years ago, and they wanted to amputate both of her legs. She had a severe head jury with damage to her frontal lobe. I said that yes, I know about TBI's, both of my brothers had bad accidents and also had TBI's. She was surprised that I knew, and that's when she told me that most people don't, and they just stare at her scars. She told me they wanted to amputate both of her legs but she wouldn't let them.She has lots of damage, but she's walking around just fine. She lost five years of her memories, including her husband (of that time, but not now) and her 4 month old son who was in the car with her but not injured. I asked if it was a head on collision and she said it was. And I thanked God for resilience and her son being spared. She talked a great deal about all this, that she had just moved back to Long Island a short time ago, and that she was on disability because of her injuries and being unable to work. And that she has a shunt. I told her that my first born grandson is also shunted, and she was shocked. I asked her if she needed the name of a neurosurgeon, did she have one, and she said she didn't have one and needed one. So I gave her the name of Adam's neurosurgeon, and she was very grateful. She said, "Everything happens for a reason, that's why we met today.".I said "God put us together, He loves you and has a plan for your life That's why we met today." She doesn't believe the same way I do, but I asked if I could pray for her, and she said "Yeah, sure.", in an off handed way.I asked her if I could hold her hand. She looked so surprised, and said "Yeah!" So I did, and I prayed, asking God in my heart what she needed. When I got to the part where I asked Him to give her back the memories of her baby, snapshots of times they spent together, when he was born, and things like that, tears began to roll down her cheeks and she looked right at me. What a wonderful time in prayer. That's as far as we were able to go, because I needed to leave. There's a bit more detail to the story, but you can catch the drift, can't you? God stopped by, stopped me in my plans, and met this woman right where she needed to be met. I'm praying that we'll meet again. Will you pray the same? And that He'll send others to walk into her life in ways she never expected. Thanks. That's all for today.