A Celebrity Disciple
She is acquainted with Mark and Ruth and John and many others. However, they are not just acquaintances because she knows everything about them. They are books of the Bible.
April Stills is famous! When I tell her those words, she laughs and puts her head down and says “it’s all about HIM. I just want to touch people’s lives so his glory can be seen.” She does not just work at McDonalds, handing you an order. She provides you with spiritual food.
For five years, going to McDonald’s drive-thru on Line Avenue every other Wednesday at 7:00 a.m. prior to my volunteer shift at my children’s school, Caddo Middle Magnet, was a norm. Ordering my egg white delight no meat and a large diet Dr. Pepper, this warm, scratchy voice would take my order. A few visits later, that voice, April, and I became drive-thru friends. We would joke about her coif du jour and her North Face jackets and she always ended our time with “Have a blessed day!”
One day was different.
April handed me my order and said “He said you will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast because they trust in you. Trust in the Lord always . . . “
The sting in my eye pinched me. Could she see I was sad? Of course not, as my Vampire eye issues always keep me in shades.
“…for the Lord Jehovah is your everlasting strength. Have a Blessed day!”
My hand is shaking holding my receipt.
“Wait, April, what verse is that?”
She says from the drive-thru window. “Isaiah 26:3-4”
Scribbling Isaiah 26:3-4 on the receipt as I drive to my shift, googling the scripture, reading it and feeling the divine intervention, the sadness was yanked out of me. I was trying to fix something only He could.
Everything changed. Later we exchange phone numbers.
Her texts arrive daily.
Words of Wisdom: And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[a] have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28) Have a blessed day!”
I call her Words of Wisdom – WOWS. Copy, paste and forward-to Robin whose mom is ill; to Kimberly, a divorcee’ with three children and a business to operate; to Mary Caroline who loves the LORD so steadfastly she is happy to receive. The list is endless of the copying, pasting and forwarding. Her blessings blessing myriad folks.
April Stills channels Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, the nun from Wall Street, whose daily purpose was, “to do the will of God, to do it in the manner He wills and to do it because it is His will.”
April and are lunching and scripture rolls off her tongue like another language. It is not preachy. It sounds like Spanish. Suzanne and Grady Golden agree. “She is a lovely person, strong in her faith. We met her in the drive-thru years ago. We don’t even order, she knows what we want as soon as she hears our voice.” I concur, “I know too that Grady gets an English muffin, Canadian bacon, strawberry jam, water and milk because she told me!”
She states that at 20 years old, she began studying the Bible. She wakes at 2:00 a.m. every day and prays until 4:00 a.m. and, “God, what do I read? Please help me understand and acknowledge and let me speak through you.” At 5:00 am she goes to work, and the drive-thru blessings begin.
At lunch, the hostess walks by. “This is Megan. She and her honey come through every morning for coffee!”
Then, Ronnie, the bus boy walks by and she knows him too! I say. “Told you you were famous!!” April quotes Luke 1:28 -The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” She continues to give the attention back to Him where it should be and emphasizes “ . . .what He pours into me, I’m pouring out.”
How many people do you touch every day?” I ask. “Maybe 50 . . .” she states. “It is my job to serve Him as it says in Romans 12:11-13 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
When she was pregnant with her son, Matthison Isaiah, now 2, she went into the hospital 18 weeks before he was due. “It was hard being in the hospital and not being independent. I would wake up at 5 a.m. and pray to Mathison, still in my belly. There were two other girls in the hospital like me,” she remembers “and they looked at me and said “what we gonna do now?’” She vehemently says, “There are no problems because He is the solution.”
April laments on the state of the world where there is hatred and cold hearts. We are not ignorant of the floods, violence and problems in this world. She simply brings our purpose back to “love thy neighbor.” April exemplifies loving anyone that crosses her path.
If you are hungry for a burger or for spiritual food, love and protection, then drive thru McDonalds on Line Avenue. Go ahead, order a Big Mac with a side of April.
April lives in Shreveport with her husband, Mathew and son, Matthison.
