A Season For Giving - Part 2

Here is an update on what has happened this week since I started "The 12 Days of Christmas Challenge". Peter over at http://blog.hafchurch.org/peter/ issued a challenge to give sacrificially for the 12 days up to Christmas. It started last Saturday but you can still get involved.
God has done amazing things as I began to pray about what He would have me do. Here is some of what has happened in just the last 5 days.....

On Monday we had a snow storm and didn't leave the house. So God brought me something to do from home. Back in August I had left a message for someone on the Classmates website thinking they would probably never receive it. This person is the one who told me about Jesus and I had always wanted to thank him but didn't know how to find him. I had not had any contact with him for over 25 years. On Monday morning I got ready to write as I always do and there on my email was a message from him. He had come across my message on Classmates and looked me up. We were able to catch up a little bit and I got the opportunity to tell him that his obedience to speak about Jesus changed my life. I was also able to extend grace and forgiveness for some past hurts that had happened between us. I believe that there were things that needed some closure for both of us and God gave the opportunity for it to happen.

On Tuesday I did some shopping for a family our Sunday school class had adopted. We were to provide Christmas dinner for the family. I was told they only had 4 towels with 5 people in the family. So I went shopping and bought them 8 sets of towels with what was suppose to be my Christmas present money. I gave up my Christmas present my husband was going to give me and used the money to help others. This was one family that God showed me needed help.

On Wednesday my husband and I found out that one of our son’s is in a bible study and needed bibles. A good friend of his recently got saved and is leading a bible study with all his unsaved friends. Our son went forward at an early age but is not living for Christ. It is an answer to prayer that he is involved in this study. Since many of them are unsaved, they needed bibles. We collected bibles and some other materials for them from the church.

Thursday I found out more about the bible study. The bible study has 5 unsaved couples. The young man leading the study is scared to death but relying on God to carry him through. I went to the Christian bookstore and bought him a great study guide to help him plan his study.

I decided to buy a card while I was at the bookstore. I wrote a note in the card sharing the gospel and put a gospel tract with it. Then I drove through Taco Bell and told the lady working the window that I would like to pay for the women's lunch in the car behind me. She wasn't sure she how to combine the orders and left to get help. When she came back she had 3 other workers with her. They were all surprised I was paying for someone’s lunch that I didn't know. I explained why I was doing it which they seemed amazed by. I then asked the lady at the window to give the card to women behind me and tell her I said Merry Christmas. When I went to pay, I had just enough cash to cover both orders. Isn’t God amazing! When I pulled out Taco Bell was buzzing.

On Friday I went to the store and got a copy of the movie Flywheel and some hot chocolate. I put it all in a pretty bag and took it to my son’s teacher for Christmas. In the card I shared a short description of the true meaning of Christmas and the gospel.

We went to dinner with my sister and her husband in the evening. I shared the 12 days of Christmas Challenge with them and all that God had been doing this week. The waitress at the restaurant was my niece and her week had not gone so well. She had worked a 12 hour shift earlier in the week and only made sixteen dollars. I gave her every bit of the cash I had left as a tip which was almost as much as the bill. I was going to use the money for myself but she needed it worse than I did.

Wow, What a week!!! God is so good and my spirit is soaring. I wonder what God has planned for this week.

I can't wait!!!