First and foremost to all those who left prayers for me due to yesterday’s post. THANK YOU!!!! Today I can honestly say I woke up with a completely different perspective. Today I wanted to tell you a story about God’s grace, about being used despite believing yourself unusable.
Bed of Blessing:
Give and it shall be giving to you…
Picture by Lisa R.
In the course of our move from Florida to NY, my mom had to give up her bed. Why? Two reason: 1. Her mattress was giving her back pain. 2. We needed to minimize. So why not get rid of something that was causing her pain. Makes sense, no? When we settled in our new home, mom had a room, a bed frame, and a headboard, but no mattress. However, that was not the only issue we faced. We moved from a three bedroom house to a two bedroom apartment (although incredibly spacious, still an apartment), thus the bedrooms were considerable smaller. A king would not fit the space mom had. Moving without a job means you have to be conscious of every penny spent, the lack of a job means money will go out, but not come back in. I prayed about the most efficient way to fill mom’s need of sleeping accommodations. First thought get her a king mattress, sure she would have no space in her room (to move or breath), but at least she’d have a place to sleep. One day in my quiet time, I heard God clearly say, “Bless her”. Okay now let’s back track, by telling you a little about my mom. She’s the kind of person who would give you her last dime, if she genuinely believed it would help you. I watched her drain her retirement plan to make sure that my brother could graduate college. At a time when my father had a good paying job and could help, he kept saying that he would, but some how was NEVER able to (I am not angry with him, but not gonna lie it still hurts when I think about it). My great, great aunt died a couple years after my mom was laid off, and left her money. Instead of hoarding it and storing it up for her retirement, she used that money to pay off mine and my brother’s school debt. Are you seeing her pattern? So when God said, “Bless her.” I said, “Okay God, but…” (my brother and I have not reached her level of selflessness yet, but I hope to someday).But I have bills, but I have limited funds, but… God’s answer, “Bless her”, So obediently yet reluctantly I started to search for beds, and mattresses. We found what we wanted at SEARS. What is amazing is that we were able to purchase a top of the line mattress, and a beautiful bed frame, for less than it would have cost me to purchase one king size mattress! Blessing number one. Today my mom’s bed arrived. She was like a little kid. So excited. She kept saying, “Thank you Lord. Thank you for this blessing.” She kept thanking me for being generous. I can’t explain what it did to my heart to know I was able to give back to someone who has always without hesitation given to me. Blessing number two… PRICELESS. Then God reminded me that He blesses those who willing bless others. He reminded me that the call of the Christian, the follower of Christ is to give and not expect in return. Something my mom had done for years, and today God returned it to her, “A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over“.
“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (Luke 6:38).
Today’s Lesson: Be a blessing and you will be blessed… pressed down, shaken together, running over.
