{"id":35431,"date":"2023-10-19T16:44:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-19T16:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/single-mom-stunned-by-strangers-kindness\/"},"modified":"2023-10-19T16:44:00","modified_gmt":"2023-10-19T16:44:00","slug":"single-mom-stunned-by-strangers-kindness","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/single-mom-stunned-by-strangers-kindness\/","title":{"rendered":"Single Mom Stunned by Stranger\u2019s Kindness"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ree is a single mom trying to navigate the rising cost of living, Ree has been feeling &quot;stressed and upset&quot; most days, with the battle only intensified by personal issues. Ree told Yahoo News Australia she was feeling anxious at the prospect of making ends meet before visiting her local Woolworths store.<\/p>\n\n<p>However, two strangers&#39; patience while she discarded several items at the checkout because she &quot;couldn&#39;t afford&quot; them truly made all the difference. She said, &ldquo;The lady behind me asked the cashier to ring up everything I had put back because she was going to pay for them for me.&rdquo;<\/p>\n\n<p>After thanking the stranger and explaining that payment wasn&#39;t necessary, Ree was told the stranger was insistent on buying the discarded items for her. &quot;I explained my situation to her and she said she knew how it felt to not be able to pay for things in the past.&quot;<\/p>\n\n<p>In a time of emotional strife, the stranger&#39;s kind act has had a profound impact on Ree&mdash;one that she struggles to articulate. When asked what it meant to her, she simply replied with one word: &quot;Everything. From the bottom of my heart thank you for making a truly awful situation so much easier in the moment. I walked out crying.&quot;<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading is-style-article-subhead2\">Possible Preaching Angle:<\/h2>\n\n<p><em>All of us are spiritually bankrupt with no way to pay our debt of sin. Jesus stepped up and fully paid the price for us (Eph. 1:7; 1 Pet. 2:24; 1 John 2:2). <\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[433],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3741,3753,3991,4010,4018,4053,4088,4089,4167,4168,4184,4669,4780,4782,4787,4877,4879,4985,4988,5059,5145,5146],"tax_ctp_topics":[395],"class_list":["post-35431","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-debt","tax_ctp_tags-deliverance","tax_ctp_tags-finances","tax_ctp_tags-forgiveness","tax_ctp_tags-freedom","tax_ctp_tags-gifts","tax_ctp_tags-grace","tax_ctp_tags-grace-of-god","tax_ctp_tags-hope","tax_ctp_tags-hopelessness","tax_ctp_tags-human-worth","tax_ctp_tags-poverty","tax_ctp_tags-redeemer","tax_ctp_tags-redemption","tax_ctp_tags-regeneration","tax_ctp_tags-salvation","tax_ctp_tags-salvation-by-grace","tax_ctp_tags-single-parenting","tax_ctp_tags-singles","tax_ctp_tags-spiritual-poverty","tax_ctp_tags-thanks","tax_ctp_tags-thanksgiving"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Single Mom Stunned by Stranger\u2019s Kindness - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/single-mom-stunned-by-strangers-kindness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Single Mom Stunned by Stranger\u2019s Kindness - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ree is a single mom trying to navigate the rising cost of living, Ree has been feeling &quot;stressed and upset&quot; most days, with the battle only intensified by personal issues. Ree told Yahoo News Australia she was feeling anxious at the prospect of making ends meet before visiting her local Woolworths store. 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