Hello Reader,

I was standing in the grocery store aisle, holding my own words in my hands.

Everyday Faith magazine. Published by DaySpring. My article. Right there on the shelf where actual people could pick it up and read it.

My daughter was with me, and we were both grinning like we'd just won something. Because for a writer? This is the dream. Like, pinch-me-is-this-real dream.

I grabbed a few copies. Okay, maybe more than a few.

We were walking toward the checkout when I saw her.

Teresa. Someone I used to go to church with. And the second our eyes met, I knew. She was hurting.

We talked for just a minute. She shared some of what she was walking through, and my heart just broke for her. As we said goodbye, I felt it – that gentle nudge from the Lord.

I had something that could encourage her. Right there in my hands.

I turned to my daughter. "Quick – give her one of these."

A lot of years passed.

It was winter. Four years after my special needs daughter, Taylor, went home to Jesus. Someone knocked on my door.

Teresa stood there with her hands out, holding a bag. "Do you remember me?"

Of course I did. I invited her in, confused and curious.

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"I brought something for you," she said.

I opened the bag. Inside was a beautiful, handmade scrapbook.

The first page – Taylor's obituary.

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And then page after page of words. All the encouraging, kind words from everyone who had signed the funeral home's online guestbook.

"Thank you for sharing your journey of Taylor with us."

"So sorry for your loss of Taylor. Rejoice with you that her soul is with the Lord."

"What glorious knowing that Taylor has been welcomed home and is with Jesus."

I held that book in my hands, and the tears just came.

Teresa started apologizing. "I'm sorry it took so long to give this to you. It was a labor of love."

I told her she didn't need to apologize.

Because here's what every parent who's lost a child knows: you're terrified they'll be forgotten.

To have this gift four years after Taylor graduated to heaven? Right when my heart needed to remember that she mattered, that she's remembered, that heaven is real and she's there?

It was everything.

That day in the grocery store, I thought I was just sharing a magazine.

I had no idea I was planting something that would bloom years later into this extraordinary reminder.

That gratitude has its own timeline. That God's timing isn't ours.

That sometimes the "late" gift arrives exactly when it's needed most.

So if you meant to text your friend and forgot...

If you wanted to send that card but didn't...

If you think it's too late and you missed your chance...

You didn't.

It's never too late to tell someone you're sorry for the hole in their heart. Never too late to show up with love.

What's been on your heart? What word have you been meaning to share?

Maybe it's today. Maybe it's next month. Or next year.

Whenever it is? It won't be too late.

"And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up." - Galatians 6:9

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