My wife Natalie recently experienced something that brought tears to my eyes.
All I could say to her when she shared the story with me was, “you must share this story. You need to write it out, put it on Facebook, share with whoever will listen. Especially right now when there are so few stories of hope being shared. It shows how God is still at work!”
I will do my best to help her spread the word and tell her story. Some of the details may not be exactly how it happened but I will do my best to get it right.
It Started with Masks
On Tuesday last week, Natalie was blessed with some free N95 masks for her work. She just needed to go over to Bloomington to get them. She did not have a lot of extra time but to have proper PPE at work is very important so she put the address into her GPS and headed to get the masks.
When she arrived, she had a feeling that she must not be at the right place. She started looking at her phone to make sure she put the address in properly.
We Need Help
As she was doing this, a man knocked on her window and asked if she could help him. What does Natalie do. She jumps out of her car to help him. I told I think she should be more careful about just jumping out of the car. She said he was with a woman, who turned out to be his wife, and they looked harmless. I still cautioned her again! Natalie is very trusting, which is a great trait to have but also a little scary.
The couple asked her if she could help them as they were trying to get into the building she was parked in front of. They told her that it was an immigration building and that they needed to see someone in immigration. Natalie thought they must be at the wrong place as she was there to pick up masks.
She told them that she could try to help. When they got up to the building, sure enough it is an immigration building but it was temporarily closed. It had a sign that said that people needed to go to downtown for immigration appointments. There was also a phone number to call if you had questions.
Natalie explained this to them as they did not speak great English. She asked them whether they had an appointment and why they needed to go to immigration. They told her that they did not have an appointment but it was urgent that they speak to someone in immigration.
We Lied
They went on to explain that they had moved here from Nigeria years ago and had eventually became U.S. citizens. When they did become citizens, they were advised by someone that they needed to tell the government that they were younger than they were, so they lied about their birth dates. At the time they were not “good” people. They would drink and party and had no problem lying to the government.
Since then though, they had given their life to Jesus. They said that because of their heart change, they needed to tell the truth and ask immigration for forgiveness of their lie. They needed to see someone in immigration to ask for forgiveness.
Well if you are like me, you are probably thinking that this is probably not a good idea. Who knows what would happen to them if they share the truth. I mean they could lose their citizenship and be deported! Natalie was thinking the same thing. She asked them if they wanted to talk to an attorney first just to protect themselves.
They told her they were willing to suffer the consequences. They said it was more important to be right with God then to live with this lie!
Natalie Tries to Help
Natalie was so impressed by their conviction to do the right thing. She said she would help them but she also didn’t know what she could do. She said that they could start by phoning the number on the sign.
Just recently, I started going through the process to get my U.S. citizenship. I am still a Canadian citizen and I felt that if I wanted to join all the other Americans in complaining about the government, I needed to be able to vote. Just kidding but I do want to have the right to vote.
As I have started this process both Natalie and I know that to be able to speak to someone in immigration right now is pretty much impossible. In fact, they literally tell you on their website that they will not answer your phone call so please do not bother to phone.
With that, Natalie did not have much hope in anyone answering when she phoned. The phone was answered by a machine and she was given lots of different options with a number to push. She heard one option that was somewhat close but they never did give an option that if you need to ask for forgiveness push such and such number.
To her surprise, a person answered! She told the person she was not sure who she needed to talk to but she had a couple with her that needed to talk to someone in immigration about something they had done during the citizenship process.
Again, to her surprise, the lady said that she is the person that they would need to talk to. What are the chances!
Please Forgive Us
First, she asked who my wife was. Remember, Natalie does not have a lot of extra time to be spending on the phone but she wanted to help this couple. She explained how she had just met this couple and that wanted to ask for forgiveness.
The couple had written a letter explaining what they had done. Natalie asked the lady is she should read it to her. The lady said yes. The letter explained how they had lied and that since giving their life to Jesus their hearts and life had changed. It explained how they wanted to ask for forgiveness and were willing to accept any punishment that was given to them.
When Natalie finished the letter, the lady thanked her for sharing. She then went on to tell her what was going to happen to this couple. She said that immigration was going to do nothing. There would be no punishment for their deception. She said that if they had thought there was a problem, it should have been done during the citizenship process. Because it was not done then, they would not do anything now.
Can You Repeat That?
Natalie asked her then to clarify. She asked her if that meant the couple was forgiven and there would be no action against them. The lady said yes. That they were good and would not need to worry about any consequences.
Natalie was speaking through speaker phone so the couple heard this but they still did not understand. She asked one more time for the lady to clarify. Again, the lady said the couple was good and that they would not take any action against them. That they were forgiven.
When this couple heard this, Natalie said it was like they had won the lottery (I am tearing up again as I write this!). They started dancing and hugging Natalie!
Natalie hung up the phone and talked a bit more with this couple. They shared their contact information and then went on their way.
Natalie got back in her car and saw that she still had four more blocks to go to get to the building she was supposed to go to.
It Isn’t Coincidence
Why did the GPS take her to the wrong building, why would these people ask some stranger to help them and not just head to the immigration building downtown, why would Natalie take the time out of her busy schedule, how did they actually get someone to answer at immigration, why would it be the exact person they needed to talk to, why did the lady make a decision right there to not punish them?
Some people would say coincidence. I have seen God work too many times in my life to believe that. God was at work! That couple had faith that if they did the right thing that God would get them through it and that He did.
When Jesus saw their faith, He said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven” (Luke 5:20)
