An Arkansas police officer was shocked when a black woman approached him in his car with a stunning request.
Tiffany Sharell Block took to Facebook on July 8 to share the story of how she approached the officer, an action she said she felt compelled to do through God:
While at the gym this morning the Lord spoke some powerful words to me and gave me a challenge.
Yes black lives matter, yes all lives matter but the Lord said the one thing that trumps it all is love. Let’s start a #lovematters movement. God told me to go and talk with a police officer and extend love. I didn’t want to do this.
It required me to get out of my comfort zone. So, I told God that if there was an opportunity that I would but I wasn’t going to go look for it. Well, I pulled into the grocery store parking lot and guess who was sitting in their vehicle???
So I did what God told me to do and a 30 minute conversation ensued with Officer Eden. He told me all about his career and some daily challenges. We got to know each other. I told him how my children were now afraid of the police. So, he talked with them and gave them badges.
We must start the conversation, to build relationships, to break down walls.. Let’s have the hard conversations guys…. with our friends of different ethnicities, our city leaders/officials, the pastors in our communities. Tear these walls down! Let’s extend love. Challenge yourself…. Move out of your comfort zone. Let’s make this trend…. #lovematters
Block’s post quickly went viral, garnering more than 39,000 shares on Facebook. Many readers praised her actions after the touching story was shared on Love What Matters’ Facebook page on July 10.
“Turning the other cheek is so hard but love defeats hate all the time,” one reader. “You made the right choice and a wonderful example to your children,” one reader commented.
“Just takes one or two people to start change,” another wrote. “If we all just made an effort to embrace, respect, and love each other without [judgment] and focus on race and uniform, maybe we would see an even bigger change for our country. Awesome love this God bless her and keep this officer.”
