Blessed To Be A Blessing

God has been doing a work in my heart in the area of giving. It started with the month of November being National Adoption Month. I heard several parents talk about their journey in foster care and adoption. My heart has been opened to receive and accept God's plan in our own family. Also in this month, my heart became awakened to gratitude. I began seeing all of the things I have as God's blessing in my life, large and small. I have started a gratitude journal that I believe has changed my life.

In the month of December, as the mail flooded in with Christmas cards, one very special one came to our mailbox. In the card was a $50 check with a note in it asking us to do a very hard thing. The sender wanted us to give it away. I was stunned. Many thoughts ran through my mind. Some selfish, some convicted by the Holy Spirit. In the end, I was supremely thankful to God that He had used this person to bless us in order to be a blessing. My next thought reminded me that we had received much this Christmas season and hadn't once thought to give it away. I personally had been acquiring more goods for myself and my own family. We had decided to give the money along with some of our own money away, so I began looking for the right family. Since cooking and providing good food for my family is close to my heart, I wanted to give away groceries. We connected with two other families in our church and were able to give a lot of food to three, all very different, families in need and it came back fast. As I was on my way to deliver the groceries, someone handed me more money for my own groceries!

One family in particular stands out to me. She's a single mom, just getting out of jail. This was the first Christmas she spent with her daughter in many years. I will never forget her phone call thanking us. The exact words were, "I ate today. I will have food tonight. But all I have in my house is a box of cereal and some milk. I didn't tell anybody, but the Lord knew we needed food." I can understand going from paycheck to paycheck, but I can't imagine going from meal to meal, not knowing where your next meal is going to come from. I am thankful that the Lord enabled us this Christmas season to have been a life changing blessing in three families' lives.

I don't do New Year's Resolutions, but my goal for 2012 is to be a blessing in as many ways as I can. I know there will be many times I will forget and only be minded toward me and mine, but I hope this upcoming year I will be reminded over and over again to give of my time and money. I will end on this quote by Tim Sanders that will keep me balanced, "By giving in secret, you are free from anything other than the joy of imagining the difference it will make." Lord give me many opportunities this year to give in secret.