The lady blurted out to the Walmart Customer Service worker, “I’m the one you called a few minutes ago about the purse!”

I was waiting in line and glanced at her.  The worker asked her to describe the purse.  She did, and was told to wait just a minute while the worker went to the back office.

She was casually dressed in blue jeans, flip flops and a bright, pink Fight Breast Cancer t-shirt.  Her hair was about half an inch long over her entire head.  In fact, I wasn’t sure if she was being treated for cancer, or just wearing her hair short.  She waited with an anxious, lip chewing expression on her face. A minute later, the Walmart worker came out holding a small red change purse.

Immediately the lady began to jump up and down excitedly saying, “Yes!! That’s it! That’s it!!”

Before handing her the purse, the Walmart worker had her fill out a claim form for lost and found.

As she filled it out, the lady was telling her how she missed the purse when she got home from the store an hour earlier.  She explained that she looked everywhere in her car and had already retraced her steps a hundred times before calling Walmart to report the purse to lost and found.  She had little or no hope of getting it back.

When the Walmart worker handed her the purse, she quickly opened it and looked inside.  From where I stood, I could see a wad of cash in the little change purse.

She went from jumping up and down to dancing with both hands raised in the air.  She kept saying over and over, “Thank ya, Jesus! Thank ya!!”

The Walmart worker told her someone found it in the parking lot stuck in a shopping cart. They grabbed it and brought it to the lost and found. They didn’t leave a name or number, but simply said someone would be looking for it soon.

The lady thanked all of the women working behind the counter.  She was beaming as she wandered back into the store.

A couple of minutes later I had my items and was heading out the door.  The lady, by chance, was walking right in front of me.

I spoke and told her I enjoyed her reaction when got her purse back.

She said, “I don’t have much money right now, and I’d put all the money I have to last me the rest of this month in that purse.  God is so good to me, and gave me back every single dollar I lost!”

Honestly, I wanted to ask if she was battling cancer too, but it was socially inappropriate, so I just smiled and told her it was a shame she couldn’t tell the honest, anonymous benefactor thank you in person.

Without blinking through her beaming smile she said, “True! But God knows! And I’m gonna pray and ask Jesus to bless ’em, and I’m giving God all the glory!”

As she got in her little car and puttered off, I too muttered a prayer for whoever the stranger was who turned in a little purse full of cash.  She’s right.  No one will ever know who the honest person was, but God does, and that’s the best recognition of all!