Hilda with author Gail Pauls

My friend Hilda is an artist. Whether painting on wood or making chocolates or designing necklaces, she creates beautiful products that she sells to help pay the bills. But being elderly and on her own, she needs occasional encouragement. That's what took us to the artisan village one morning. Hilda needed to find more beads.

Shops were just opening as we walked along the dirt path to the bead shop. Suddenly Hilda bent down, picked something up, shoved it in her pocket, and continued on. It happened so fast I almost missed it.

Curious, I asked what she had found. With more than a little hesitation, she pulled out a thick silver necklace. It was clear she wanted to keep the valuable find, but I told her someone would be very sad when they discovered the loss. Unable to convince her, I explained that we needed to do the correct thing before God. She still didn't budge.

It is one thing to meet with new believers and agree from God's Word what it means to follow Jesus. Real-life discipleship is not so easy. What should I do? Looking around, I noticed something. With the necklace now in my pocket, I walked over to a woman who was sitting near the spot of Hilda’s find. She appeared to be a shop owner resting before customers arrived. I greeted her and asked if she had recently lost anything. Her "no" quickly changed when she looked down. "Oh, yes, my necklace!" After she described it perfectly, I gave it back. Her words of gratitude could have been heard far beyond the tree where Hilda stood watching.

Conversation was a bit sparse as Hilda and I entered the bead shop, but within minutes she leaned my way to say that I had done the right thing. By then, however, I didn't agree. I realized it would have been much wiser and gentler to persuade Hilda to return the necklace herself. As it was, the lesson had bruised us both.

A natural storyteller, Hilda soon began to share our recent experience with Enrique, the shop owner. Expecting him to agree that no Chilean would have returned the necklace, my friend was startled to receive a lecture about honesty being a matter of heart and conscience, not culture. Far from being offended, Hilda felt encouraged by his godly opinion. (So did I.)

After an animated conversation about God, we explained our errand to Enrique. Once again, his response startled Hilda. He offered to sell her necklaces in his shop. Dancing back to my car, Hilda couldn't stop talking about how kind the Lord had been. First He taught her a needed lesson, then He rewarded her for learning it.

We both rejoiced that day because of our God-sent lessons in discipleship.