blessing others
In honor of my mama’s birthday, she’s sharing a post about blessing others. Let’s get into it!
Blessed people are blessed to bless people.
That is one of my ALL time favorite sayings. I want to be the kind of person that looks for ways to bless others. I pray often that God would open my eyes & my heart to see opportunities to be a blessing. I am sure that I miss it WAY more often than I see it. I can totally picture Him up there going, “HELLO!! It’s right in front of you! Don’t you see?” (I am so thankful for God’s grace!!)
I am going to share with you a few ways that I feel like I have been given the opportunity to be the hands & feet of Jesus Christ recently. I’m doing this to hopefully encourage you to find ways to be a blessing to others! It doesn’t have to be something big or extravagant to be a blessing to someone else. Below is another saying that is way up there on my list of favs!
You don’t have to be rich to be generous, you just have to be generous to be generous.
So here we go! A few examples…
As May was approaching, I remembered that growing up we always did May Day baskets. On May 1st, we would fill little cups with candy & other things (I remember cutting off blooms from lilac bushes & adding them one year) & leave them on friends’ porches, running away before they could catch us. I have such fond memories of it!! Well I decided that I would do it this year. So I went to Trader Joes & bought these little flowers. I printed out my favorite bible verse & on the back I wrote something I loved about that person. The afternoon I spent leaving these on my friends’ porches completely filled me with JOY!
I didn’t sign my name to them, but most of them figured out it was me. Those darn ring doorbells weren’t a thing back in the day!
I got a text from a newer friend the next morning saying that she had just opened her front door to listen to the rain & saw it sitting there. She shared with me that she had been dealing with some depression (something I did not know!) & that it had absolutely made her day! She also shared that she was going to steal my idea.
Blessed people are blessed to bless people.
Not terribly long ago, I needed to go to Alli’s town to pick something up from her. In a town just a little bit out of the way, is a darling little place that sells homemade frozen meals. Alli has shared pretty openly that she does NOT like to cook, ha! I knew that life had been a bit stressful for her lately, so I decided to stop in & grab her a couple meals. My plan was to stop by her school & I knew that I would be walking right by the office when I got there. So I grabbed a meal for her principal & secretary to take home as well. They were all so grateful! Fast foward a bit & one of Alli’s friends was having surgery. So Alli went & got her a couple of those meals to ease her burden.
Blessed people are blessed to bless people.
In the past year, a dear friend of mine opened a new business. I am so incredibly proud of her & wanted to support & encourage her on the journey. So each week I ask her how I can pray. I have been writing my prayers in a specific journal & plan to give it to her once it is full. What a blessing to see the ways God has answered those prayers!
Just recently when I send a birthday text, I have started including one of my favorite things about that person! It costs nothing, but means so much!
Blessed people are blessed to bless people.
In December, Alli shared on instagram about how she had finished reading the Bible all the way through. She shared about how she had used Bible Recap to do it chronologically & how she had learned so much! She decided to do a giveaway for one Bible Recap book. In the end she ordered Bible Recap for every person that had entered!
Blessed people are blessed to bless people.
In February, I saw that Daily Grace Co launched a new bible study for the 40 days leading up to Easter. After praying about it, Randy & I decided we wanted to buy them for ourselves & others. I texted several people asking if they would like one. We ended up ordering over 30 of them for friends & family. The study was SO good!
From that text, a group of us started gathering at the local coffee shop on Saturday mornings for coffee & connection. We chat about what we are learning & just encourage one another. It has been such an incredible blessing in my life!!
Blessed people are blessed to bless people.
During the time that Alli was doing the Lent study, one of her co-workers lost her husband to cancer. Instead of taking her a meal (since we have already mentioned that Alli does not like to cook, ha!) she ordered her a bible study on grief & a necklace.
Blessed people are blessed to bless people.
This last story is from Mother’s Day a couple years ago.
Randy snapped this picture today of me & my friend, Rick to send to our kids & I love it so much.
For the last several months, our family has been stopping after church in Wichita to give Rick a meal & chat for a bit. In the beginning we just took him whatever we wanted, but over time we have learned his likes & dislikes. Sometimes we just take him one of those things we know he likes & sometimes our schedule allows us the time to ask him what he’s hungry for & then get that. This day it was macaroni salad & orange juice.
Rick was so excited to see me & tell me Happy Mother’s Day that morning. We talked about his mom & how much he loves her & how he hasn’t seen her for a long time.
Rick is 29 years old & sleeps under the bridge or up near a building out of the wind. He has a grateful heart & such good manners. He has a beautiful smile & kind eyes. While we don’t know his full story, we are learning more each week. Our friendship with Rick has taught our family some deep life lessons & been the subject of many hard & heartfelt Sunday lunch conversations. Each week we nourish his body & he nourishes our soul
Blessed people are blessed to bless people.
I tell these stories not to brag, but to show you the ripple effect & how if we ask Him & follow it up by being open & obedient, God will show us clearly just how to be the hands & feet of Jesus Christ.
May you be blessed this day & may you find a way to share the blessings with another.
