I didn't get it. Why would He pierce my heart with the great needs of the people right here in my own community but not furnish me with the things I needed to help them. Not only that but I was coming closer and closer to becoming one of 'them'. I wasn't worried but I was becoming frustrated. Every door I tried to open was all but welded closed, barred with steel and a big dresser pushed in front of it. I mean it was nothing doing by way of jobs. The bills piled up and the spirits slowly slunk downward. And then out of the blue my sweet Sunday School teacher would send me a message to cheer up and to urge me to be patient. She was so wise and taught me so much this past summer. And she prayed for me. And I felt her prayers.
Thanks to Matthew 6:34 I didn't worry and thanks to Mrs. Katherine I had patience. But there was still the matter of paying the bills. I wouldn't say that I was under a terrible financial strain, as I lived pretty modestly to start with. However, when there's zero money week after week after week paying even the smallest bill proved challenging. But then I started to notice a pattern. Every time I got right up to the very edge of going over the edge and plunging into financial doom (which was really big and dramtic words for "Duke Power Might Turn Off The Lights") money or opportunity to get money would pop up. Just like Manna from Heaven to the wandering Jews, seemingly from nowhere and right on time - every time - my need would be met! As odd as it must've sounded, I literally prayed to God... "God, I know you can do anything big or small and I have faith that You will not leave me or forsake me out here in this desert of my own. So I'm asking You, God, to help me get my car payment together. Amen."
To make ends meet, I picked up some hours as a relief tech at the Veterinary Emergency Clinic, I babysat for working folks, I sold some of my antiques (to someone who sent me the money and then decided she didn't need the antiques afterall and for me to just keep the money!) Mom was a winner in a class action lawsuit from 10 years earlier that she didn't even remember being a part of. That check paid the bills that month! My mailbox became a source of blessings as nearly weekly someone would send me a "random" gift card to somewhere or a check for something odd like "Happy 4th of July! Here's some money!" And I paid the bills. A little here, a little there, rarely on time but they were getting paid.
After spending a couple 3rd Tuesdays over at the CRO I really started to have a heart for the people in need. Matthew and I once stopped at a red light where a seemingly homeless man was holding his crude, cardboard sign announcing that he would work for food. I rolled down the window and gave him every dime I had. It equaled less than a dollar in change. It didn't cost me much at all but I was blessed beyond measure when my son - an only child, wants for nothing, well fed and dressed and dare I say spoiled, spoiled rotten, in fact - was moved to tears by the mans plight. He questioned me all the way home about the man. Where would he sleep? Where was his family? What would he eat? Where does he use the bathroom? By the time we got home my son was nearly pleading with me to go back and get the man. Since he didn't have a home, Matthew suggested letting him live with us. That "chance encounter" with the homeless man ignited something in my son and from that day to this he looks out for the homeless and anyone down on their luck. At his urging, I handed dollars to the intersection people with cardboard signs, we gave cold water to streetwalkers and we even took a meal to a man living in a Station Wagon outside the local Walmart. And the blessing was clearly, always mine as I got to see my son's big 'ole heart!
Matthew 6:2-4 says “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." So I'm a little hesitant to say "hey, look what we did". Of course I'm sitting here writing about it, not so sure I should be... But, anyway, I found the more I reached out to people the more I wanted to. I was excited about the response a bottle of cold water from a stanger would get from a person who'd probably been walking in the heat all day long and I never missed an opportunity to tell someone that Jesus loved them. I was flat broke but I had genuine joy in my heart! And I wasn't worried about a thing!
It was during that time that the Nominating Committee at my church came together to nominate the members of the different committees (yes, it's a Baptist Church and that's just how we roll!) The church had put together a new outreach committee and asked me to be on it. Someone said I would be 'perfect' for the committee - I have to assume that's because I was so vocal about wanting to help the homeless. The vision for the committee was to work alongside the missions committees specifically to meet the needs of the Tuckaseege community. It would also serve as a "welcome committee" for visitors. Simply put, we were going to be helping the needy, both spiritually and physically in our community and I was going to be on a team!! God blessed me with a team of people to help me help others! Random occurence? No way! But how crazy was it that I found myself as the head of an Outreach committee in a Baptist church. Yes, God will and does use ANYONE to carry out His plan!
In my Six Degrees time-line there's a few more degrees to go! But for now I'm calling it a night...Thank you for reading! To be continued!
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