Amazon delivery driver pauses during busy day to pray for baby with heart condition
An Amazon delivery driver's prayer for a baby boy with a heart condition in Idaho has gone viral and is inspiring many.
As Monica Salinas was making a delivery to a home in Nampa, Idaho, she noticed a sign on the door explaining that a high-risk child named Lucas lives inside. Lucas is under a year old and has a heart condition that puts him at heightened risk for respiratory complications, such as the coronavirus.
Derek and Raquel Pearson had been taking extra precautions during the pandemic and were depending on online orders for many products so they wouldn't have to go shopping elsewhere and then risk exposing their son to the disease.
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“He needs special thickeners to be able to eat, otherwise he aspirates his milk. So we really depend on getting all of these supplies online so we don't have to go out to the store and bring a virus home,” 30-year-old Raquel Pearson said in an interview last week with news station KTVB. “We just want to minimize exposure to coronavirus.”
While waiting for an important order to arrive a few weeks ago, Pearson noticed on the doorbell camera that Salinas, a delivery driver for a company called Custom Services through Amazon, paused after she rang the doorbell and placed the package on the doorstep.
“There was a note and it said their baby's food was essential, and every time I see that note, it just touches my heart,” Salinas, 41, told the local news station.
“I just stopped to do what my heart told me to do, to say a prayer for the baby and for the parents because that's got to be very painful for all of them to see their baby hurt and struggle. I just prayed that they can make it through another day, one day at a time.”
Salinas, who sings in her parish choir, subsequently told Catholic News Agency in an interview Sunday that when she saw the message on her May 2 route, she felt moved to pray: "Dearest God, please protect this family through your Precious Blood, and this baby, so that he may grow to become a man.”
Pearson did not know at first what Salinas was doing standing there for a moment after she dropped off the package. But then, she saw Salinas make the sign of the cross and realized she was praying.
Pearson told Catholic News Agency that when she saw the gesture, she started crying.
“We were very grateful that a stranger would take time out of her very busy day to pray for our baby,” Pearson explained.
Pearson shared the video and expressed her gratitude in a local COVID-19 Facebook group.
The video soon caught the attention of many people online as well as international media outlets.
“God has always been very important in my whole life," Salinas explained.
"And I would like to let everyone know that God is good. I always tell people, every day, that God is good, one day at a time."
