REVIVAL

Job 8: 19 Behold, this is the joy of his way, and out of the earth shall others grow.

I’ve decided to open this blog back up and share my stories and journey with you. It may not be in the ‘story of my life’ style, but take note, they are stories of my life and where the journey is leading me.

A friend said something on her FB (facebook) wall that got me to thinking. She said:

“When you concentrate on others and reach out to help them, your own problems get smaller. Think outward toward others not inward toward self. God will take care of you if you are His child.” ~ Debbie (last name to remain hidden for privacy matters)

I replied that this was my life’s mission. Then the writing muse in me attacked! I felt compelled to write! (Thanks Deb!)

I thought back to a time when I was young; I was about 18, when this ‘caring for others’ took over my psyche and changed me for the better. “God will take care of you if you are His child.” Those words rang in my head like a morning Church bell. It called me to write and explain how it became my ‘life mission’ to think of others and not myself.

I had lost my one grandparent (Grandmom Z to lung cancer) three days before my eighth birthday and two months later her husband slipped away in a silent slumber of grief for the wife he had lost. Not easy to take for an eight yr. old kid.

About ten years later my living grandfather had rented my husband and I an apartment, and not long after, he passed away. (Yes I was married at seventeen.) Anyway, it left behind my one living grandparent, so I felt compelled to be close to her. She was my only living grandmother! And although she wasn’t the endearing type of ‘let’s make cookies’ or ‘let me shower you in love’, she was my only living grandmother and it was overwhelming me to help her.

John 12: 29 The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered: others said, An angel spake to him.

This is where my journey began in helping others. I would go down to my grandmothers house once a week and clean for her, and in God fashion, He sent me others to help. Now keep in mind I was almost penniless. My husband rarely liked to work, we were selling weed to make money to pay bills, and I was trying to ward off my enemy, the bottle, at the same time.

 Yes, I began drinking at an extremely young age and by twenty I was a full-blown alcoholic and drug addict. My life didn’t change until I put others before my self-serving self!

1 Thes. 5: 6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.

I quit drinking and doing drugs at 21. An odd age since that was when I became a child who could legally drink. My duties for my grandmother would pay me twenty dollars to clean, and for two hours I would work my butt off washing windows, scrubbing the floor, tub and toilet. I was putting her before myself.

Then Ms. Gerdy happened. A 100 yr. old woman who lived alone and had no one to really care for her. I would clean her house, in 100 degree heat and be sent home with a dollar for my efforts. It was the best dollar I ever made. She had no money, unlike my grandmother who had hundreds of thousands, and Ms. Gerdy would hand me that dollar and I felt like I had accomplished something in that day with her. She never went behind me saying, “You missed a spot, you missed a spot,” like my grandmother did weekly!

Prov. 21: 20 There is treasure to be desired and oil in the dwelling of the wise; but a foolish man spendeth it up.

Ms. Gerdy, an honest to goodness Christian woman who had nothing, made me feel like I had made a million bucks! I now had the mindset that helping others, BEFORE myself, had its rewards. Not monetary rewards either! God would step in and take care of me, if I thought of others rather than being a selfish woman.

The years passed, my grandmother passed, Ms. Gerdy passed and what did I get out of it, an immense hug from the Lord who watched over me and blessed me daily. Year after year my life was filled with blessings that no one understood (except me) where they came from.

I had now made it a mission to put others before myself, never seeking a reward but being blessed along the journey. What one man sees as worthless treasure, I see immense blessings from the Lord. That is my life to this day!

Luke 12: 34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.