I need your help once again, reader. I'm working on an upcoming project and am looking for stories about serving.
Specifically, when have you felt totally and unselfishly served? It could have been at a business or in a home. The one serving might be someone you know or someone you don't. Please tell us about your experience.
Second question: how did being served by that person affect you?
Thanks for all your help. I did this a few weeks ago and it was quite beneficial.
6 comments:
Recently we had to hang pictures and such on the walls of our new place. I KNOW my husband hates to hang things, but I needed his help. I saw him swallow his dislike for it and then jump into the project with a bit of eagerness. Because he did something without complaining and even without an ugly look on his face, I felt completely loved. He put my needs before his own.
With working outside here in Yuma all day it gets warm and sometimes takes the breath out of me, when Thursday comes and it my time to clean the church A rooms at times i find myself over whelmed, but i know its my giving time. As i found myself many times driving to the church i feel this peace come over me. I have been so blessed to have the family of SRC. By the time im done putting on the finishing touches on those rooms i just think i need to do so much more for this church for all SR has giving to me..It makes me smile when i walk into church to see those little kids waiting in line to sign in for their class, knowing they are going to sit in a clean room, but most of all they are going to learn how much Jesus loves each and everyone of them. Please serve where ever you can...:-)
Pastor Sam, I am not a member of you congregation but I wanted to share my story of service with you.
It was about 3 years ago and I was struggling with many mundane things in life. One imparticular was: I had just had my 2nd child and I was struggling with not getting enough sleep and a little postpartum depression. My baby slept just fine but I was the one waking up tired and worn out each morning. Now I don't want you to think I am complaining, but I was struggling each day just to get out of bed. A few ladies that attend the same church the I do got wind of my struggle and took turns coming over to my house and playing with my 2 year old and feeding my 4 month old. While they were doing this I would go and lie down and try to sleep. There were some days that I was able to get some rest. Other days I would just lay there and cry. Not only did they take care of my 2 children they also found the time to clean my house. These women had no Idea the difference they were making in my life. I would come out of my room and find 2 sleeping children and a clean house. They would put my kids in their beds and tell me to go back to sleep. I thanked them for all they did and they would be on their way.
I know have 3 children and try my best to do what the Lord would have me do and pay it forward. I do my best to go out of my way to help others in need. I learned a valuable lesson from these amazing women. I will always be in debt to them. They were truly on the Lords errand.
The blessings of service have blessed my life many times but this experience will remain with me all the days of my life. I am constantly looking for ways to serve others. Often I pray that I will be able to find a way to serve others in my daily life.
I was new to SRC when I was served. I had surgery and my sister in law signed me up for meals. I begged her not too. I received three delicious home cooked meals from people I didn't know. I was so humbled that I cried each night after we ate. That expereince forever changed me. I signed up for the meal program right away. I think if you asked almost anyone they would tell you that I love people with food. I always pray over every meal I deliver that the people receiving are as moved as I was that very first time. I have never known what a church family felt like until I joined SRC. Now I wonder how I lived without it.
A few years back, and what seems like a lifetime ago, I taught sixth grade and had Cancer. I continued to work throughout treatment as long as my stamina held out. Unfortunately sometimes when a person is receiving heavy doses of Chemotherapy their white blood cell count crashes. When this happens, the individual becomes very immune compromised. You are ordered by the doctor to NOT go out at all because the common cold could actually kill you. A person could be house bound for weeks. This condition happens without warning and is detected in blood tests.
My doctor would often call me on a Sunday night and drop this huge bomb on me as I was preparing to work on Monday. So, here I was needing to make substitute plans and not being able to go to work for an indefinate amount of time. Quite the delima.
A gentleman I worked with saved me. He was a few years younger than my father and sort of became my Dad at work. We joked around over the years and built a very special friendship both in and out of work. I called him in a panic the first time I got the doctor call. Crying and hysterical I told him of my quandry. He simply said with all the calm maturity of a father that he would take care of it. Sub plans for that long of a duration take HOURS. He did my sub plans on four different occasions for a total of one month. I have never felt so relieved and greatful as I did then. He simply served me and twenty-seven sixth graders in my time of greatest need without fanfare.
I still tear up thinking about it and will forever be in debt to this man for going so far beyond friendship and showing compassion and love when I needed it most.
The greatest example I had of serving came from a friend of mine that I met while on our last tour of duty in CA with the Navy. She always opened her home to everyone, fed everyone, and was willing to share whatever she had! This was a family consisting of five kids and her husband was an enlisted man aka not much money to live on. But she always gave whatever she had. Although this also placed her sometimes with people who weren't always so wonderful I am sure she blessed them being the way she was. God never failed to rain blessings on her family when they were struggling and keep them fed through other people. To this day it reminds me to not be selfish with my things/or food and to be open to everyone.
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