A Bright Blue Answer to a Shopper's Prayer

Loaded down with groceries blocks from her home, she received help from an unexpected source.

By Dawn Levine, New York, New York

As appeared in

Bread, milk, cereal, peanut butter...

My grocery cart rattled through the aisles. Like a lot of New Yorkers, I went to the grocery store on foot and carried my bags the eight blocks back home to my apartment. I wasn’t planning to buy much food today, so I’d left my trusty portable cart at home.

I turned into the produce aisle. Everything looked so fresh. I took some carrots and blueberries, then some plums and lettuce. I wouldn’t be able to fit it all in my canvas shopping bag. Can I carry all this eight blocks? I had to try.

I left the store with my own bag, plus two plastic bags from the store. I can do this, I thought. But after only two blocks my hands cramped up. I set my bags down and rested against a building, rubbing my sore fingers.

The remaining blocks stretched out impossibly before me. I closed my eyes. “Please God, help me get my groceries all the way home!”

I opened my eyes and pushed myself upright. Something curbside caught my eye. Leaning against a garbage can just a few feet away sat a bright blue shopping cart. Was that there all along? I wondered. I hadn’t noticed it.

Must be broken, I thought. But when I tried it, it worked fine! I waited, but no one claimed the cart. It seemed meant just for me.

A heavy bag of groceries can make eight blocks seem like eight miles. But with God’s help—and a bright blue shopping cart—no load is too big to carry.

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