Do angels have business cards and live in Bellevue, Michigan?

“This is insane. I’m not the girl who quits a career and then moves states away from all my people and parents. I JUST started believing I was a good teacher and then I quit?! Who am I?! Why am I doing this?!”

I was in the middle of a giant cinnamon roll from Golly G’s and a full-blown freak-out on my friend’s couch. I had just packed up the U-Haul and said goodbye to my friends.

I can’t quote to you what my friend said at that moment or the rest of the night. I can tell you she allowed me to freak out, cry, and she repeated this simple truth that has led me this far:

You are going because God called you there and it will be good.

So I moved. I moved to Marshall, Michigan, to work for a church as a full-time children’s ministry director in Battle Creek at Dexter Lake Church of God.

The city that I’ve been praying over for ten years. The city that’s beside the hospital where I was born and where my parents brought four babies home. The city where I’ve come every summer to partner with Rhema Word Outreach Church for VBS. 

Since moving here five months ago, I’ve felt a peace and sureness that came straight from heaven. I have some amazing new friends that I feel like I’ve known for years not months. I also love my job and the families I get to serve. My coworkers are the actual best, minus a fart spray prank that wasn’t directed at me but greatly impacted me when my office filled with the lovely smell of revenge. I’ll let you take a guess at who the culprit was and who the target was. 

When I first learned about the opportunity back in June I called my brother and sister-in-law in TX. Jovan told me to start writing down God moments to look back on when the days get hard. So I did. 

This is one of those moments.

Sunday was hard. My people in TN had big things happening in their life. My parents were here for a week and had just gone back home. My sister-in-law was/is getting closer to having my nephew and they all just felt very far away. I was in a funk all Sunday and Monday.

We also got upgraded to a winter storm with 8-12inches possible. HOW DO PEOPLE LIVE LIKE THIS?! I’ll let you know in a week! Anyway…

I needed to go to the store. I had been avoiding shopping at Meijers. I’ve shopped at Kroger for decades. There isn’t a Kroger here. We got a new Aldi and we have a Walmart. Meijers just felt like one more reminder that things were different. So in some weird stubborn way it felt like I was telling God, “I’ll go this far but not there. It’s too much. I can’t give anything else. Can you please just give me a Kroger? I just want my brands and 10 cents off gas.”

Super mature.

Not.

So on Monday, I decided to tackle this silly little idol and be fully here. I was on my last two items when a lady stopped me in the pasta aisle to ask if I knew where some item was in the store. There were at least six other people in the aisle. I gave her a blank stare before saying, “I am the wrong person to ask. This is my first time here.”

“OH! Sorry about that!”, she smiled and started to walk off. I smiled back and said, “yeah I just moved here and we don’t have these in Tennessee.” She stopped and turned fully back to me. In my sassy mind, I was thinking I’d know right where that was if this was Kroger. 

She walked a few steps back to me and asked why on earth I moved here. I replied, “my dream job is here!” 

She leaned back perplexed and said, “here?” while pointing at the ground in disbelief “what job?”

I smiled and recognized the surprised tone from my own prayers, “I work for Dexter Lake Church of God.”

Her eyebrows shot up and she replied, “OH! Wow.”

“Yeah! I’m the new Children Ministry Director. I was a first grade teacher for the past five years in TN, but the pandemic, along with all the other things teachers face led me to quit, then this job came and I took it!”

A slow smile started on her face and she asked where the church was before explaining that she was from Bellevue, MI. I explained where the church was and said how much I loved working there.

Her eyes got wide and her head tilted, “Do you have kids?”

“Nope.”

A surprised look crossed her face, “Are you married?”

“Nope.”

She stood a little taller, “So you are single and moved here alone for a job?”

“Yeah. I know it’s crazy!”

She smiled wide and said, “No! That isn’t crazy at all. That is you following the call of God. I’m so proud of you. That couldn’t have been easy. What is your first name?”

“I’m Danielle.”

I’m sure she told me her name but her next sentence stunned me so much I blanked on her name. She said, “I have a daughter-in-law named Danielle who lives in Tennessee.”

I laughed out loud in disbelief.

She then dug around for a business card. She told me she was giving it to me not because she wanted to sell me something, but because I was alone and may need someone. She told me to call her if I ever needed someone to talk to or help.

A stranger in the Meijer that I had driven past for months reaffirmed my calling on a day when I really needed it. I had just finished 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting and have given everything to God. I finally gave him my comfort with grocery shopping.

I went to get her card to tell someone her name and it was gone. I can’t remember her name or face.

Just her eyes and smile.

Do angels have business cards and live in Bellevue, MI?