Long overdue for a nail pick-me-up (aka manicure), I head to my local nail salon. It\u2019s Tuesday so not the usual crowd. Great \u2013 I\u2019ll be in and out in a jiffy! An adorable Vietnamese girl, who by the way, speaks English very well, greets me and invites me to sit at her booth. Her name is June. “Like the month\u201d, she says. I reply, \u201cI\u2019m Donna, not like Madonna!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Initially, I go into a zone of thinking internally, but not for long. I start getting those nudges again. I\u2019m learning to yield to those nudges, more often than not. June is my captive audience and what do I have to lose? I find out she\u2019s 20-years-old, lives here with her uncle and aunt and their two young boys (who, by the way, annoy her sometimes, but she loves them anyway). Here for four years, she misses her family in Vietnam. I ease up on the questions as we are taken with Dr. Oz interviewing a former pharmacist on a TV screen behind her. The pharmacist incorrectly filled a prescription for a 3-year-old girl that took her life. He served time in prison though it was a combination of mistakes made by others in the medical industry. The child\u2019s father was on the show and apologized for what the pharmacist had gone through. He says: “God helped me forgive.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n
June and I are touched by this story. I know I need to go in for more: \u201cSo, June, what are your dreams?\u201d June replies: “I go to college two days a week to become a pharmacist.” No wonder she is taken with Dr. Oz\u2019s interview. “But, I don’t want to stop there. I want to become a doctor, but it’s going to take so long!” Now, I step up my game to being \u201cMama Donna\u201d, rather than \u201cMadonna\u201d to her. We talk about God\u2019s love and plans for her — that if she\u2019d let Him be a part of her life, He’ll help her. I say, \u201cPlay the movie in your mind. Six or eight years will go by whether or not you continue on with your dreams. The movie is playing. See yourself graduating and serving in a clinic or hospital and making a really good income. Or, see the movie where you stop your studies and at the end of six or eight years, see yourself wishing you had stayed with it and regretting your decision.\u201d She says, \u201cI\u2019m not quitting!\u201d Going to the nail salon has always been about me settling in for a nice, relaxing, it\u2019s-all-about-me experience. I tune out the manicurist mostly because of a language barrier. But, this day, I sensed I was on a mission. I like to think that I\u2019ll see June again on this side of heaven and I\u2019ll water the seeds I planted a little more. I pray that someone else will come along and water the seeds, too, and God will make them grow. Long overdue for a nail pick-me-up (aka manicure), I head to my local nail salon. It\u2019s Tuesday so not the usual crowd. Great \u2013 I\u2019ll be in and out in a jiffy! An adorable Vietnamese girl, who by the way, speaks English very well, greets me and invites me to sit at her booth. Her…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9658,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12567,1],"tags":[1019,12576,3458,12312,1043,65,12577,749,5946,1813,5947,12578,12575,8512,2357,12579],"class_list":["post-9656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-seedtime","category-uncategorized","tag-apostle-paul","tag-buddhist","tag-captive-audience","tag-doctor","tag-give-and-it-shall-be-given","tag-god","tag-his-son","tag-jesus","tag-manicure","tag-mission","tag-nail-salon","tag-nudge","tag-pharmacist","tag-planted","tag-pray","tag-water-seeds"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9656"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9656\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9661,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9656\/revisions\/9661"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Then I go in for the jugular. \u201cJune, do you believe in God?”
June: \u201cI\u2019m Buddhist\u201d.
Donna: \u201cI understand that Buddha was a very good man.\u201d
June: \u201cYes, he taught when we do good, we receive
Donna: \u201cThat\u2019s what I believe too! Jesus said, ‘You reap what you sow!’ The beautiful part about God is that He loved us all so much that He gave His Son to us and He died for us, but the best part that\u2019s different from Buddha is He didn\u2019t stay dead. He\u2019s alive and He lives in our hearts when we invite Him in.\u201d
June finishes my nails and starts to stand up. I ask her \u201cCan I pray for you?\u201d Wide-eyed, she says, \u201cHere? Now?\u201d I say, \u201cYes\u201d. She sits down and I
Donna: I will be back. What days are you here?
June: Everyday except Monday and Wednesday when I go to school. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Apostle Paul wrote: \u201cI planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are co-workers in God\u2019s service; you are God\u2019s field, God\u2019s building.\u201d (1 Corinthians 3:6-9)
Dear God, please help sweet June grow in You! Amen! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"