Everything’s bigger in Texas, including kindness, and if you live in Lonestar State, then you know that we all love H-E-B. We have them all over, and anyone who doesn’t have one in their city yet wants one, or two, or a few around. H-E-B is a grocery store that offers more than usual selections, brands, and good prices and deals.
H-E-B stands for ‘Here Everything’s Better’, Texas certainly thinks so – but after this young H-E-B employee paid for a family’s grocery bill once the customer realized she didn’t have enough cash to pay for everything – anyone who is still on the edge and questioning if it’s really that much better should be toppled over by this selfless act of kindness.
Maria Balboa is an understudy who likewise works as a bagger at the H-E-B in Corpus Christi, TX. Last Monday, she was bagging for an elderly woman who had two young boys in her care. Once the transaction got to the payment part, Maria said the lady only had $19.00 left on her SNAP card and couldn’t pay for the difference on the grocery bill.
“She was going to put back the groceries instead of a couple of items that she needed for dinner that night. I asked the cashier what the remaining total was and she said it was $137,” Maria recalled. “Immediately I heard a voice inside my head saying, ‘pay for the groceries’. I stopped to think for a second but then I heard again, ‘Pay for the groceries Maria!’”
The lady attempted to reject the selfless offer, but Maria insisted and ended up taking care of the bill.
“$137 was quite a bit of money for me that day, but still I knew that I would get it back on payday and maybe she wouldn’t,” Maria said.
Upon arriving to work the next day, Maria was called into the manager’s office. She assumed she was in trouble. However, it turns out that the lady whose grocery bill was paid for submitted a survey!
In the survey, the lady made sense of her monetary battles. She is taking care of her two grandkids all alone and working in a low-paying position to keep the children out of the foster system.
“I was ashamed not having enough money and she insisted to pay for them,” the woman wrote in the survey. “Today she made me cry but happy tears. Thank you from the heart for your kindness. My grandkids and I have managed to pull through since January it’s been very tough but God put this young lady at the bagging area for us. I wish I could have gotten her name.”
Maria said that she was brought to tears from the heartwarming words. The senior supervisor, Mark Moeller, wound up repaying Maria for her great deed, and she even got a goody basket full of groceries.
Maria shared the faith news in a Facebook post saying:
“I was so grateful for their kindness as well as to the lady for writing the survey. Hearing her words made me realize that it’s small things like paying for groceries that can help people out in ways we don’t even know. With that being said: Always be kind and do a good deed for someone when you can. It can be something as simple as holding the door open for a stranger or complimenting them. Good things done always come back in ways we may not even realize. Always be good to the people around you, because you never know what someone else might have going on. Thank you for reading and be kind!”
Looks like at H-E-B everything really is better there! Let’s hear it for Maria everyone! God bless her kind soul, and even more so for heeding that little voice that just might have been the Holy Spirit. Let’s hope she in addition to her reward, has doors open for her, and a blessing can be poured out to her from heaven.
This story syndicated with permission from My Faith News
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