The Kindness of Strangers

I have written up about 3 separate blog posts complaining and ranting about being on bed rest. I never posted them because they were a total whine fest! Thankfully God has blessed us and helped to change my focus from all the negatives to His blessings and provisions...and His mysterious and unexpected ways of working in our lives! The Lord provided us with a connection to a homeschooling family here in the Springs. A very kind and generous family who we've never met, but seemed to jump at the chance to help. I have never been this humbled before...welcoming someone I have never met into my home that is dirty and cluttered, without having prepared any kind of refreshments to serve. It goes completely against everything I was raised to do! It initially put me into a panic to sit on my couch while someone cleaned my house without being paid to do so. It just felt so...wrong!

But I myself have served on hospitality committees at church, bringing meals to families I didn't know that were having a crisis of some kind. It filled me with joy to help. Once I brought a meal to a sweet, young couple with a new baby who had had two open heart surgeries. I thought I was simply dropping off a meal to new parents. Instead I came inside and watched a new mom cradle her baby girl who was hooked up to tubes and machinery, and listened to their horrifying story and cried with them. I left feeling like bringing one meal wasn't nearly enough, but I know now that these small blessings really are huge to those that are going through the tough times.

In Matthew, Jesus speaks about those believers that helped others by feeding and clothing them, visiting them in prison, caring for the sick."Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me." Matthew 25:40. 


We do many things as Christians but these days I am more convinced than ever that our willingness to help others, to serve a stranger, to be used however God wants to use us, is the biggest testimony to Jesus' love. As a friend of mine once said, we are to be Christ "with skin on". When anyone cares and loves you so much, it's Jesus loving you through that person.


I am so thankful that God is using others not only to meet our basic needs, but to remind me that HE cares and HE loves me and HE is providing. 


So many of us think we need great talents to really serve others and make a difference. But I tell you that coming over and doing someones dishes or sitting with a toddler to read them a book does make a HUGE difference. It's the little things that matter. Anyone can wash a plate and fold a pile of clothes. But not everyone is willing to do so with a cheerful heart. Yesterday I watched a 15 year old girl cheerfully lead Connor in cleaning up his toys and then vacuum up my living room. That simple act that I used to do every day was such a blessing to me because it was done with such a joy and eagerness.


I tend to take a chin-up attitude and bear a lot on my own and try to cope with pain without complaint. I rarely ask my own husband for any help. Now, I'm so glad that I swallowed my pride and asked for help. Any help. Yes, I need it. Not just for me but for my babies. I am blessed too though...my spirit is lifted high up.