"Baby, I'm a dreamer for sure."

Happy New Year!


I have been patiently awaiting this year to arrive.  God has promised to make things new this year and pour out his blessings. I have been so ready for this to happen! The amazing thing is yesterday was the first day of the year and God has already begun to do what he has promised!
A few weeks ago, the Lord placed on my heart to do something in the community on Christmas. Everything fell into place to help with a homeless ministry on Christmas day. I had enough people volunteer to help and to provide a nice meal for 80+ people. Then they had a change of plans and the date was changed to January 1st. So yesterday, with help from many friends and family, we were able to go help with the homeless ministry and provide a lasagna meal for the homeless. 


Now I want to rewind to Christmas Eve night. I had just gotten home from spending Christmas with my Dad. I was getting my room organized and the Lord convicted me on the amount of clothes I had in my closet. I noticed that I hand almost 6 coats and MANY shirts that I don't even wear. I knew I would probably get more for Christmas so I decided to clean out my closet of all the clothes I have not worn this winter season. I filled up an x-large Christmas bag with all the clothes and coats that I decided to get rid of. After Christmas, I had enough money to buy a pair of brown boots I had been eyeing for a couple of months now. So I bought some new boots and decided to throw my other boots into my give away pile.


Now lets return to yesterday evening. As I was preparing to go provide dinner, I felt I needed to take my bag of clothes that I was going to give away. I have worked with the homeless before and it's population is usually of men and older women. I remember thinking "there probably won't be anyone who could fit into these clothes", but I felt that I needed to bring the bag with me anyways. I get to the church and enjoyed every minute of talking and serving this wonderful group of people. Near the end a man I go to church with came to me and told me that their was a family who have NO food for the week and asked if we had left over lasagna to give to them so they will have food during the week. We had one HUGE pan and another large pan of lasagna left over plus a bag of rolls, a few cupcakes, and salad that we could give to the family. The family was hispanic and had a translator to help them out. The translator came into the kitchen and thanked us for the extra food. After we fixed at least 16 togo boxes for the other members their (so cool how God provides the right amount of food), we walked out into the hallway where the hispanic family was. They thanked us for our help and then I joined the service that was taking place. I went into the room and sat down and realized that there was a girl who looked like she was in high school and was about my size. Then it hit me that she was who the clothes were for! I jumped up out of my seat and went looking for the family. I couldn't find them, so I went to find one of the guys I go to church with to see if he knew where they were. He told me they were still in the church so I told him about the large bag of clothes I had and was wanting to see if the girl in this family needed them. He took the bag of clothes and went out to find them. I stayed and enjoyed the service. In the middle of the service, the guy I gave the clothes to walk back in. He sat behind me and told me that in that family there were two girls. The older one is usually the one who gets a lot of clothes donated to her and the younger one (the one who I think is in high school) struggles to have enough clothes. The family told him that it was a God thing that I brought the clothes because she was in desperate need of them and she was especially in need of the boots! As I sat through the rest of the service tears began to fill my eyes. The Lord allowed me to be apart of him blessing someone. I was SO excited!


This year is going to be full of blessings. Last night showed me that even though God will bless me individually, he's also going to use me to be apart of the blessings he's going to pour out onto others. I'm more excited about this than I am about receiving my own blessings!


Now, day 2 into the New Year. I show up at work to help with a camp. I show up to work and after 30 mins of waiting, I find out the camp is cancelled. One of the sweetest ladies I work with who is the Early Childhood Manager, told my manager that I was up and showered for work and that I needed to work. So instead of sending me home, I worked with Lu all day doing little projects and observing another program they have have the museum called Play Gym. It was such a fun and easy day PLUS I got paid time and half for it! Day 2 in and the Lord has given another blessing! Also, my window is now fixed and my wonderful dad has offered to pay for it. Yet, another blessing is poured onto me!


Tomorrow is day 3 and I am SO EXCITED to see what else the Lord has in store, not to mention the other 362 days this year!


By the way, the ministry we went to help with is through pastor Barry Kidwell. He preaches and works with the homeless every week and has a service for them at First Centenary Methodist Church on Sunday nights. They are always needing people to volunteer to provide dinner on Sunday nights. If you or your church family would like to help, please contact me and I'll give you the name and number of the lady who sets the dinners up. Trust me, it was a wonderful experience and the Lord is doing GREAT things with this ministry. Let me know if you'd like to help!


Happy New Year Everyone! And may God pour out his blessings on each and everyone of you!