07/14/2024
This is not going to be the normal post of what we did to help someone out today. Instead, it will be about how I am still learning how to be receptive of blessings.
I received a text from Diann Clapp from the First Baptist Chuch in Graham on Friday night giving me a heads-up request for Saturday afternoon. They were assisting Arms Of Grace Pregnancy Resource Center with a yard sale at their church and were looking for some help cleaning up and getting all of the unsold items back upstairs into storage. Zoey and I went over there around 12 on Saturday to help out and they were so blessed by our being there. They were all tired from setting up and being outside in the heat all day. All of the ladies were so glad to have us there helping out. That's not really what this post is about though. Please endure til the end and hopefully you will be blessed.
As we were finishing up and I was walking to the car, one of the ladies, who shall remain nameless, tried to give me a donation for MMM. I declined it because that's just normally what I do. I don't solicit funds, don't have a donate button on the MMM website nor facebook. The Lord will provide what we need. She kept trying to get me to take it, I kept declining, she tried giving it to Zoey, and she declined it. Finally, she said something that really hit home with me. She said, "don't you take my blessing from me".
Why this was so meaningful to me is because I have stood in the upstairs space where all of these clothes were going, with several of these same women before and told them the following story. In 2013, I went on a short-term mission trip to the island community of Bocachica in Colombia, South America. At the place where we were staying we did our own chores, so after we ate a meal we cleaned our own dishes. One particular evening after our meal, I was in line to wash my dishes and one of the younger girls from our church asked if she could do my dishes for me. She was maybe 12 or so. I declined and said "thank you, I could get them". She asked again and I declined again. Then with a little sass, she snapped her fingers and said, "don't you take my blessing from me". Through my stubborness, I was not allowing this young lady to bless me with her gift of service. Well, I thought that I had learned my lesson that evening but apparently I hadn't.
The reason that I had told that story to the women before, was because I was venting about how MMM wasn't getting many calls asking for assistance. Sometimes people think that some of these seemingly small tasks are not something that we would do. So I was explaining through this story, that it is exactly these small tasks that are truly blessings for us to be able to provide when someone needs some help or even when they don't. I didn't need that young lady to do my dishes, but she wanted to bless me and I wasn't letting her. Now here I was again, declining help, a donation, a blessing, from this lady who simply wanted to give. It was the Lord providing without me having to ask. In the end, I accepted. I felt bad that I had declined her desire to share her blessing with me. Its hard when you're a giver to occasionally become a receiver. That's something that I'm working on.
God has given us all gifts. Some are servants, some are givers, some are musicians, some are artists, some help the homeless, the addicts, the pregnant, the spiritually lost, the list can go on and on. I've never felt called to be on the front line of the ministry work that is done in our community. Instead, MMM is a support role, the guy to keep in your back pocket and give a call when you need a hand. The Lord has put it on my heart to just be a blessing to those that do that front line work. And apparently, I'm still learning about receiving blessings from others.
If you know of a non-profit in the area that could use some help every once in a while, please share with them about MMM. All we want to do is bless whem with some helping hands. Most of my posts begin and end the same way. This one didn't because its not the normal post. They begin with "today we were blessed with the opportunity to serve" and ends with the following scripture. Col 3:23-24 (23) Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, (24) knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.
It truly is my desire to serve Christ, and one way I can do that is by serving others with all of my heart. Not for me, not to be able to say, "look what I did today", but instead to glorify God and shine the light on those who are out there really making a difference in the community.
God bless and thanks for reading til the end.
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