In the book of Deuteronomy, it says to “Give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to do.” Deuteronomy 15:10.
Well, folks, it happened again, proving that no matter how hard you try, you just can’t out-give God. Some of you may remember my blog post from a few years back titled “Born to Give.” (Actually, I’m sure you don’t remember it, who am I kidding? However, you can read it here before you go any further. It’s a little long, so you may want to sit down, grab a hot OR cold drink, and put your feet up. That’s fine, I’ll wait……comfy? Cozy? Now, click here:) http://wewereborntobe.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2013-07-10T19:02:00-07:00&max-results=7
Amazing God we serve, huh? But wait - the story only continues from here. Warning: This blog post is even longer than the last one because, obviously, I have much to say about this subject. If you take time to read this, you may want to refresh your drink and just keep your seat…….
Disclaimer: I am sharing this so that you will see how God keeps his promises and not to glorify anything that we may or may not have done that is considered “good.” Trust me, I struggle to be that person that gives unconditionally. My family and I strive every day to do what is right and sometimes fail miserably at it, but God deserves every bit of the praise if any is due. When I see things happen like this, I just HAVE to share! So here goes!
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My girls (Briana and Lindsey) and I just love a good yard sale. Not shopping them particularly – we’re not really into that. No, we like to have yard sales. Some people call them garage sales, but we have them out in front of our house on the driveway, so I guess technically, they are “Driveway Sales.” (SIDE NOTE: When I was a little girl, I saw a sign at a department store at Grant City shopping center in Rossville, Georgia that read “Sidewalk Sale” and I asked my mother if we could buy one. “One what? she asked. “A sidewalk! I’ve always wanted one.” Yep, I was obviously a little dingbat.)
But I’m sure the girls and I are in the minority of folks who actually get a thrill out of having yard sales. Let's face it, yard sales are a lot of hard work for very little money, usually. But you know, it’s not just about making money, it's much more than that. To us, there’s nothing like storing up our treasures (not hoarding, mind you, just storing up), then working for days dragging them out of the basement, hanging, labeling, and organizing all our stuff by category, size or price. Then, on the morning of the sale, we wake up early (because you have to beat the early bird shoppers) to drag it all out onto the driveway for friends, neighbors, and anyone who passes by to peruse our ‘gently used’ treasures. All of this and I didn’t even mention all the new people you get to know by having a yard sale. But enough of all that, on to the matter at hand!
I don’t know why, but all of a sudden, I’m just over the things that I’ve been hanging onto my entire married life. You know, what things I'm talking about the “I’m sure I’ll need that again one day.” items or (here's my favorite) “I’ll get back into that size 10 again by next summer, I just know it!” Yeah, right, my “one day” never comes and even more evasive, my “next summer” never seems to arrive. This past Saturday, we had the biggest yard sale we’ve ever had. My oldest daughter Briana who is between jobs right now, worked diligently for almost a week sorting, organizing, pricing, and labeling a mish-mosh of clothing, housewares, baby items, you name it – we had held onto it! Bri even developed a unique system of keeping up with which one of us sold what to make it easy and accurate to tally up the funds at the end of the day. That girl amazes me! Oh, and NEVER MIND that it was 90+ degrees in the middle of the day, and NEVER MIND that we only had one 5-minute ‘lull’ in traffic around lunchtime (just long enough to woof down some “gut-bombers” – for those of you not from the Southeast, that’s little Krystal hamburgers akin to the White Castle’s up north) and NEVER MIND we all three got a little sunburned from not having remembered our sunscreen (okay, okay, not a little sunburned…..does the phrase “red as a lobster” give you a clue?) NEVER MIND all those things – because, at the end of the day, we made over (are you ready for this?) $1,150 off our gently used, once loved and never-to-be-missed treasures! Amazing, right? But do you want to know the MOST amazing part of all? Here it comes. (Are you still with me? Need a potty break? I’ll wait…..)
You see, Briana and her husband Anthony, along with my only grandchild, Tatum, are about to make a move to Virginia for Anthony to start a new job on an army base. (Mi-Moe and Papa aren’t the least bit thrilled with the 8-hour distance between our sweet toddler and us, but that discussion is for another day.) I just had to tell you all that because you needed to understand our reasoning behind having a yard sale the sale in the middle of the hot, Georgia summer. We're not crazy, I promise - Bri just needed to come up with some money quickly to help them get settled into an apartment in Virginia. Besides, she didn’t really want to have to move all the extra boxes that weren’t absolutely necessary.
Well, I had been telling the girls all morning that whatever we didn’t sell we were going to load up in my van and take it to the benevolent room at church, or to the Salvation Army, Goodwill or Timbuck Two, - didn’t matter, but under NO circumstances was it finding its way back into my house! So after repeating that for probably the third time, a little gray-haired, jean-clad lady overheard me and approached me with a question. “Mam, I heard you say you were going to take what was left off somewhere.” She continued, “I wouldn’t mind at all coming back when you’re done selling and taking off what you don’t need. You see, I like to keep things in my home to help people when they need it. If somebody’s home burns or they get a divorce, just get out of jail, or are in need in any way, I try to help them. Why I’ve got several rooms in my house just full that I pull from when the need arises.” “Really, I asked? Because that would be wonderful to put this stuff to good use for people who need it.” This little lady (we’ll call her Miss B) lived way out on Sand Mountain in an area called “The Big Woods.” Let me just say, it’s not called the big woods for nothing! They have lots and lots of trees, some farms, houses, trailers and from my experience having lived there a while growing up, lots of snakes. Ewww! But I digress. (I hate snakes!) Figuring there were a lot of people needing help in so many ways in her community, we got her name and number and promised to call her at the end of the day.
When the heat got to us (around 4:00 p.m.), and we simply couldn’t stand any more ‘fun,’ I gave Miss B a call. There were still a lot of really nice things left, and the girls and I jointly decided that we were going to give her pretty much all of it. After all, we assumed, she could probably use some of the things herself, and what she couldn’t use we felt sure she would pass along to others in need. There were household items, a couple of nice queen size comforter sets, lots and lots of nice clothes in all sizes, some toys and baby items – Easily a short bed truck full. When Miss B returned with her truck (which turned out to be an older model large SUV), I put my arm around her and said, “Now, if you want to take this and have you a big ‘ole yard sale to see if you can make some money for yourself out of it, you just feel free to do that. If we can help someone else make a little money off our old stuff, we would be happy.” I added, “If there is anything you want to keep for yourself like those nice comforters, you feel free to do so.” Miss B was so appreciative and said that she had eyed that comforter earlier but didn’t have the money to buy it. She didn’t have a comforter for her bed because they are just "too expensive." So the girls and I loaded up her truck and off she went. High fives all around! The best way to have a yard sale, y’all! It’s all about “purging” what you don’t need, and if you can help someone else out, that’s a win-win. Now, as Paul Harvey used to say, “Here’s the “rest of the story”….
Yesterday while I was at work, I got a call from Briana (the one moving to Virginia and also the one who found the golden egg.) What Golden Egg, you ask? NOW HEAR THIS: If you didn’t follow my instructions at the top of this novel to go back and read my blog from 2013, then you don’t know what I’m referring to. You can go read it now, right here (I’ll wait.): HTTP://wewereborntobe.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2013-07-10T19:02:00-07:00&max-results=7…Anyhow, it seems Briana had been running some errands and went by the post office box to get the mail. She said, “Good news! I got an envelope from my school today (she’s getting her degree online), and it seems I overpaid last semester. They sent me a refund check for $262!” We both agreed – that was a gift from heaven, and God had opened up his celestial window and tossed out that blessing in the form of a check addressed to Briana.
SEE? It never ever fails my friends! Like I said, you just can’t out-give God! It is a natural law that the creator put in place from the beginning of time. “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” Luke 6:38
You may be thinking, “But that lady did you guys a favor by hauling all that junk off.” But you have to understand. Normally, we would have culled through what was left, pulled out what we could sell next time, or put the nicer items on a Facebook Buy/Sell/Trade page and made a little more off of it. If my calculations are correct, we probably could have made another, oh, I don't know, maybe $262! But this time, something just told us to give it to Miss B. I, for one, am glad this little lady dropped by our sale. Not only because she was nice and we made a new friend, but because she helped reinforce a life lesson that my husband and I have always tried to impress upon our children – No matter what - you just can’t out-give God and doing the right thing always brings the best rewards and usually just when you need them the most.
Thank you, God, for all your blessings, both great and small, and thank you, Miss B, for sharing with others up in the woods that truly are very, very BIG. (Oh yeah, and watch out for those sneaky snakes!)
You may be thinking, “But that lady did you guys a favor by hauling all that junk off.” But you have to understand. Normally, we would have culled through what was left, pulled out what we could sell next time, or put the nicer items on a Facebook Buy/Sell/Trade page and made a little more off of it. If my calculations are correct, we probably could have made another, oh, I don't know, maybe $262! But this time, something just told us to give it to Miss B. I, for one, am glad this little lady dropped by our sale. Not only because she was nice and we made a new friend, but because she helped reinforce a life lesson that my husband and I have always tried to impress upon our children – No matter what - you just can’t out-give God and doing the right thing always brings the best rewards and usually just when you need them the most.
Thank you, God, for all your blessings, both great and small, and thank you, Miss B, for sharing with others up in the woods that truly are very, very BIG. (Oh yeah, and watch out for those sneaky snakes!)
Melissa
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