Week2 and Week 1 Recap - 30 days of Giving

 

Not really sure where to begin regarding week 1 of my 30 days of giving.  I had plans and I wrote them down.  I bought my groceries with plans on cooking.  I had packages ready and I had plans to sew.  Let's count now how many times I used the word I in those two sentences.  Too many is the right answer.  The question should be how was God glorified in my first week of giving.  My plan was to be flexible and let God lead me during this month of giving.  But - I was playing the hokey pokey all the while.  Give Him control take it back - Give Him control - take it back.  I was so busy trying to make a difference that I failed to realize what God wanted me to do and see it through.  I wanted glamour and He wanted submission.  He wanted servanthood.  Pure and Simple

Then the LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone;I will make him a helper suitable for him." ” Genesis 2:18  My biggest role of this past week was to be a helper to my husband.  We've been married for 27 years.  He is not a demanding husband.  He has taken care of me more times than I can count through the years.  Last week my husband needed me.  He was stricken with kidney stones and as I write this he is on Day 9.  One ER visit - one hospital stay and one doctor visit later we still wait for the grand exit of kidney stone 1.  They will let kidney stone 2 stay put in the kidney with the hope it will never choose to move.  It has been hard to watch him suffer the way he has and not be able to make it better.  I have refilled many glasses of drink - lemon aid, water, green tea and juice.  He's tried everything that has been suggested.  I've cooked very little since he was sick due to the extreme pain.  But  - I've been there and joyfully tried to make his ordeal as bearable as possible.  I've prayed and asked others to pray.  It has been strange to have the tables turned but it has been a privilege to serve and know that I am still needed after all these years. 

Another way that I tried to limit God this past week was to plan to give or do one thing per day.  I prayed for God to give me opportunities yet I questioned Him when there would be more than one in a day.  Thinking rather that I needed to keep things spread out so that I didn't miss a day.  I am thankful to serve a God of second chances and that He will continue to lay opportunities before me. 

My giving opportunities were as follows:
Monday - Cleaned out some things and took baby clothes/blankets to a friend.
Tuesday - Bought and delivered breakfast for a business associate. 
Wednesday - Left Power Aid out for my sanitation workers.  Delivered muffins to my church staff.  Bought treats for my two year old class. 
Thursday - Gifted a friend with some perfume (many bottles) that we were not going to use at my house. 
Friday - Pumpkin rolls for my husbands office. 
Saturday  - Breakfast Casserole to my brother and his wife.
Sunday  - Visited my Aunt in a Nursing Home.

That's my week.  I look forward to reading many other blogs about some of the great ways they gave last week and plans for this week. 

Diane