Thoughts and prayers with a side of fries at local McDonald’s

OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. (WLOX) - Sending thoughts and prayers. It’s a phrase that, depending on who you ask, is a commonly used (and possibly sometimes overused) statement on most forms of social media. Today, most topics of conversation, especially those that divide us, are not typically welcomed in the workplace. But here in Coastal Mississippi, there’s an employee at a local fast food restaurant that not only wears her faith on her sleeve... She shares it with everyone.

The idea for this story came from a Facebook post of two women praying.

The post says that Ms. Brenda, a McDonald’s employee, stopped this lady in her tracks as she was getting her drink and prayed for her on the spot. Ms. Brenda said it was something that God told her to do.

“Because all things are possible through Jesus Christ. If I didn’t have God, ain’t no way these folks are going to stand here and let me pray through the drive-thru and hold up their times,” Wilson said. “We have times that we have to go through, but he allows me 15 seconds with each one that I pray with. It’s like, when they leave and have tears in their eyes, I know God touched your heart.”

If you’ve never worked in the food and beverage industry, let alone the quick service and fast food side of the business, you’ll never know of the usually well-oiled machine that exists behind the counter. During the organized chaos that is working in a fast food drive-thru, Ms. Brenda finds real moments, in between hundreds of beverages and even more french fries and happy meals, to pray for those looking to not only fill up their bellies, but also their souls. But her path to drive-thru prayer wasn’t easy.

“He chose me when I was seven to give my testimony from when I [overdosed] when I was three and half years old. The last thing I remember the doctor saying, and I’m only three, but I can tell you word for word what that man said, he said God is gonna use her,” said Wilson. “She’s gonna be special. So, I’m laying there like man I’m not fixing to be special for God. He let my mom abuse me. He allowed certain things to happen where I didn’t believe there was a God because I’m a little bitty child and so much has happened to me.”

When she doesn’t answer her calling, the more difficult Ms. Brenda says her tests from the Lord become. So after she said her name was dragged through the mud, she stayed true to her path.

“When I don’t do what he asks me, my tests are very hard. So, I said OK God, I’m going to put the past behind me, I told the people who did me wrong that I forgave them for what they did and how they scandalized my name because God said he never left me. But you see, the enemy was trying to play tricks, ‘see I told you he ain’t love you’ and I was like man you fixing to get up under my feet,” Wilson said.

So before each shift, Ms. Brenda begins her day with the same prayer. She does so in the hopes that she can reach just one more soul.

“Every morning now I say Proverbs 3: 5-6 ‘trust in the Lord with all of your heart, lean not on your own understanding, but acknowledge Him in all My ways and He shall direct my path,” Wilson recited. Before the conclusion of Wilson’s interview at the popular Ocean Springs eatery, the same woman who Ms. Brenda originally prayed with, now a weekly visitor, came back in for her prayer time with her.

“Whatever you’re going through right now, He says it’s only temporary. So, if when people listen to their spirit. all kind of miracles will work,” Wilson said.

Ms. Brenda can be found sharing her faith during breakfast and lunch at the McDonald’s on Highway 90 in Ocean Springs.

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