Taco-Bout-Joy's located in Glenview, Illinois, owned by sisters Joy Milan and Kack Keomanivong.
“It breaks my heart to see my mom watching the door every day, waiting for a customer to walk in,” reads the TikTok's on-screen caption. “I wish I could give her customers for Christmas.”
As of this writing, the TikTok has garnered over 38.5 million views, six million likes and more than 69,000 comments from those sharing their empathy about the situation and saying how much they want to try the restaurant’s offerings.
I cried so hard after I shared it, that I closed down the computer and walked away. I was crying for a reason I didn't expect. I cried for myself.
I was thinking that the miracle that happened for this woman, is something I have never known. For 4 decades I tried to make a difference to help others heal #PTSD. I watched as all the work I did was pushed out of the way for younger people, and accepted it, but I didn't let it stop me from doing what I could. I kept reaching out for help for myself, but it never came. I just kept doing what I could. I figured if I couldn't find a miracle for myself, then at least I could be a small part of making one for someone else.
I wish God granting a miracle was as easy as Him snapping His fingers. But it isn't.
Unlike Samantha on Bewitched, able to wiggly her nose or snap her fingers to change something, He has to have a human willing to participate in the delivering of the miracle.
The way I figure it is, I need to be responsible for myself and what I do. Everyone else is responsible for what they choose to do, or not do. I have a choice to think that all my prayers are just going into the air, or that God isn't interested in someone like me, or believe He's trying to help but the people who are supposed to help, won't.
When I know someone needs help, I do what I can, and what I can't do, I'll pray for them because I'm listening to my soul. I know the feeling I get inside having made a difference for someone else. Reading the story about the daughter helping her Mom, I knew how the daughter felt witnessing a miracle she hoped for happen because she tried out of love to help.
People like me, have a choice to make all the time. Do we stop helping because no one is helping us, or do we keep trying to make a difference because we not only know what it feels like to need miracles that don't come, but we know what it is like to be a part of someone else's miracle happening and keep doing what we can?
I won't tell you that it is always an easy thing to do. There will be times when it tears you apart. You will help someone and they will not be grateful at all. They may walk away from you, refuse to help you when you need it, or worst of all, betray you. When that happens, grieve for a while, then realize it happens to God all the time. It also happened to Jesus. They didn't give up and neither should we.
Hang onto the times you knew you made a difference in someone else's life and keep doing what you can because you know you should. Then remember that feeling because the people that will not help you, will never know what that feels like. That is what I've hung onto all these years. It is a priceless gift I did for someone else, and ended up giving even more to myself.
Remember what it was like when you discovered you had PTSD, feeling all alone, confused, and trying to figure things out for yourself. Then you found information because someone else shared it. You found hope because someone else offered it. You found hope because someone else shared how they healed. They were strangers, but they helped you without knowing anything about you. Chances are, you never thanked them or returned their kindness unless you passed on what you learned from them.
In the end, if you can't find a miracle for yourself, give one to someone else.
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