We all know the old saying "it's better to give than to receive", but I think when it comes to God we have it a lot better on the receiving end. If we stop and think about what we give to God compared to what He gives to us, well, I'll be the first one to say that I wouldn't want the tables reversed. God gives us so much more than we could ever give Him. He knows we fall short of deserving his blessings, but He loves us and still blesses us anyway. Some blessings seem bigger than others, but I guess that depends on how you look at it.
Take me for example. Weeks after the tornadoes we found two of our pets alive. I can't even describe the joy I felt when I saw each of them for the first time. Some people would see it as luck that two cats survived a tornado, but I was in that tornado and I know that finding them alive was a gift from God.
Then there was my shirt from the day I was born. Back then the hospital dressed all of the children in little shirts in the nursery - blue for boys, pink for girls. Weeks after the tornado when most of the debris had been cleared, on one of my random trips by the remains of our home, I walked up onto the foundation and there was that little shirt laying on the foundation as if someone had placed it there knowing I would come by for it. I don't know who found it. I don't know where they found it. I don't know how they knew to return it to our house. It's as if it just dropped out of Heaven. I had always planned on dressing my children, if we had any girls, in that shirt when they were born. Having it returned was a blessing, and I was able to dress our daughter in that shirt for pictures when she was a few days old.
A few nights ago, my husband and I went into our garage to look through some of our stuff that's been piled in there since we moved in. After the tornado we packed up the things we thought we could salvage. Of course it rained the night of the tornado and a lot of things were wet. We lost a lot of the things we originally packed up due to mold a few months later. We thought going through what was left would be hard on us so we've been putting it off. In the first box my husband opened he pulled out a little wooden dog pull toy that I had when I was a baby. Neither of us ever saw it after the tornado. Neither of us put it in that box. We don't know if someone else found it and put it in there. All we know is that it's suddenly back with us. I actually cried when he showed it to me. To have lost the toys from my childhood that I saved for my children, and then suddenly to have one of them back is indescribable. It may not be much to some people, but at that moment it was worth more than all of the money in the world.
I have been so blessed in my life. I will continue to try to help people when I can. I want others to know how good the little blessings in life can feel. It can be as simple as opening a door for someone. Even that act of kindness can brighten someone's day. You never know what road the person you are helping has walked in life, and one day you might find yourself walking that same road.
On a different note - my husband is training for his first marathon. He's running as part of Team in Training (TNT), and raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. He received a corporate sponsorship from Pitts and Zanaty Law Firm, so his fund raising goal has been met. However, several of his team members are still trying to meet their goal. If anyone would like to donate to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society to help with cancer research and to help those who are fighting blood cancers please visit one of the pages below to donate online.
http://pages.teamintraining.org/al/flypig13/aryders18j
http://pages.teamintraining.org/al/flypig13/kpudelski
http://pages.teamintraining.org/al/flypig13/spewitt6by
