Oh Heavenly Pizza Dude…
The summer of 2002 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 2002, 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 and stated "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 2002 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.
Michele is a 34-year old single mother of three. She lives in Palm Beach County,
Florida and is the developer of the Just4Ladies.com web community which is
dedicated to helping both believers and non--believers find their way thru the
anguish and pain of a broken heart. She also founded the RequestAMiracle.com
community and recently launched HeartbreakUniversity.org where she presents "A
Course In Heartbreak" - her own lesson on how to survive and overcome heartbreak
by combining faith and knowledge to produce miracles.
Michele can be reached at BabyBlu809@aol.com
- This Article is copyright Michele M. Leahy©. All rights reserved.