I am still stuck on generosity.
Maybe it’s because the India Team just left for Omie’s Home.
Maybe it's because Thanksgiving is just around the corner.
Maybe it’s because I still have a story to tell you about generous giving and living.
I hope you will get all these connections after you read on.
It was 8 years ago and I was slowly driving to work, carefully rehearsing in my mind just what I would say to the ladies I cared for. I knew they weren’t going to be happy.
At church the day before, Dot Marketto had approached me with her charming little smile and informed me she desperately needed me to accompany her to India in a few weeks. She only had one other person signed on to go; she needed more help or she would have to cancel her trip. Now Dot can be quite persuasive indeed, but so can the Holy Spirit nudging me deep inside. I told Dot I would pray about it, discuss it with Kenny, and get back to her the next day.
In the car on our way home from church, before I even finished telling my faith-filled, missions-minded husband about my conversation with Dot, he was encouraging me to go. But I protested, listing all my concerns, my hesitations. I would have to quickly obtain a visa and get some dreaded shots. Nearly impossible, anxiously feared. I would have to take off a lot of work. Not easy for a self-employed caregiver whose clients are quite dependent. I would miss Thanksgiving with my family. Bummer. And it cost $3000!! How on earth could I raise that much money in just a couple of weeks? And just who could I ask to support my last-minute trip? We didn’t have it ourselves. That alone seemed to make the trip unreasonable.
So I shook my head. Kenny nodded his. I called Dot.
I would proceed with joining her small team and asked her to pray that all the apparent obstacles to my “yes” would be removed by my Good and Generous Father if this trip was His plan for me. I needed to know.
Then I had to face my ladies. I dreaded the conversation I would have to have.
The morning dragged as I busied myself with my usual tasks. Lunchtime would be the best opportunity to explain my plans to go to India. So, over our tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches, I broke my news. It went much worse than I had anticipated. One of the dear ladies simply cried and the other harshly lashed out at me. Why would I go to such a place and endanger myself? Weren’t there needs here in the United States? Why would Kenny allow me to go? How could I consider leaving my family for Thanksgiving? How could they, my ladies, manage without me? Did I care more for children I hadn’t even met than I did for them? It was hard. My heart was torn.
When I got ready to leave them in the late afternoon, my lady friend who had cried at my plans followed me onto the porch in her wheelchair. She pulled an envelope addressed to me from under her sweater. “This is for you,” she whispered, cautiously looking over her shoulder. “You do so much for us. I went to the bank on Friday and took out some money to give you to help you replace the rug in your bedroom that was ruined when your dear mama lived with you. I know that is the project you are saving your money for. But you can always get a new rug, Eileen, but you can’t always obey God and go on a trip to India to love people who need to know Him. Just don’t tell anybody!”
Ooops! I just told YOU! Will you keep our secret?
I hugged my generous friend, tears running down my cheeks, and climbed in my car. Relief and peace flooded over me. This had been a big hurdle for me, a big condition for me being able to go on to India with a clear conscience. I felt I more than received her permission to take time off; I had her blessing! I knew she would and could influence and convince my other more suspicious friend that they could do without me for a while.
I called Kenny to say I was on my way home and related my clandestine meeting by the back door. My heart was overflowing with gratitude. But, practical as always, Kenny interrupted me and asked me how much money was in the bank envelope she had slipped me. I hadn’t even given it a thought. I was still focusing on and rejoicing that she had so kindly released me to go, giving me the confirmation I needed. “You knucklehead,” he laughed. “Pull over and count the money!”
On the side of the road, colorful fall leaves cascading over my car, I incredulously began to count crisp $100 bills out loud in a very shaky voice. Thirty of them! Yes, you got it. Thirty! $3000. Exactly what I needed for the trip.
I had never told my benefactor the cost of my trip. I hadn’t even mentioned my concern for fund raising. When she visited the bank days earlier, she had no idea I was going anywhere. But my generous Father did. It was He who prompted her love and generosity toward me for one purpose that He had all along planned for another. Not only were my needs totally met, but He confirmed my desire to go with Dot. There was no doubt. Isn’t that just like our awesome God?
And it was, in part, all due to the generosity of one elderly lady who responded to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, the very same Spirit of God Who had prompted me to go to an orphanage and leper colony thousands of miles from Elmer, New Jersey, and love generously in the name of Jesus.
Generous people beautifully reflect the character and the heart of our God. Isn’t that what all His children really want to do, ought to do? Make much of Him? Make Him known for Who He really is? And if living and loving generously accomplishes that amazing purpose, let’s all sign on today! It’s a very good time of year to do so.
Let’s look around our neighborhoods, our places of work, our families, our church and listen to the Holy Spirit prompting us to be generous with our friendship, our hospitality, our free time, our love, our forgiveness, our encouragement, our resources, our talents, and yes, our money too. Needs and brokenness abound. We won’t have to search long and hard.
Let’s not let this Thanksgiving season go by without purposefully and generously blessing someone with an unexpected gift of some kind. Won’t you think about it? Dot’s team is at it right now.
I guarantee you will get more out of it than they will, a very unexpected gift to yourself.
And more than that, it will be a special gift to our loving and generous God Who will get the praise He deserves and the honor due His Name.
Believe me, it doesn’t have to cost you $3000. But it might…
