Better To Give than to Receive

"In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ " (Acts 20:35)

 I briefly mentioned in a previous post that my daughters entered Landry Academy's "helping people" contest.  My oldest child won so we had the privilege of using the cash prize to help others this month.  It was hard deciding how to use the money as there are so many needs around us.  Her essay mentioned helping widows based on Deuteronomy 14:29.
“...the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.”   I began to pray to ask God where we should use the money and he directed me to a nice lady in the dentist office the morning of that prayer.  We talked about many things that morning as we waited in the office.  I gave her my phone number as she wanted to contact me later to give me an answer to something we were discussing.  It wasn't until that phone call that I realized that she was to be the recipient of some of the prize money.  It was so strange to ask a person if there was something she needed assistance with as I was in a position to help.  She broke out in tears as she began to tell me what her prayer had been recently regarding some needs in her life.  She was a widow raising two granddaughters and definitely needed some help.

I met her at her small church that next Sunday morning where I was put on the spot to come to the front with her to tell the congregation what God had done for her.  I realized while speaking to the congregation that they were also the recipients of this blessing.  I saw how encouraged they were by what we were saying, most of all that God still answers prayer and you never know where your blessing will come from.  

This past Friday our family volunteered at an emergency shelter preparing and serving meals to the families living there.  The day started with grocery shopping for the items we needed for the meal then Princess made 25 sandwiches to leave at the shelter for lunches on Saturday.  The shelters mission is to provide relief, foster hope, and self-sufficiency to area neighbors in crises due to hunger, homelessness, and personal violence.  We enjoyed lending a helping hand to these folks.  

I can't help but think we probably would never be able to do something like this if we weren't homeschoolers and what a HUGE blessing we would be missing out on.  There are life long lessons that are being learned as we serve others.  

Head over to weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers to see what other moms were up to this week.