Lord, Let me not forget!

My prayer is that I will not forget the lessons God is teaching me. I quit my job in June. This decision was not made lightly or without much prayer. My husband and I both prayed over this decision for a year. We finally felt God's yes and peace about resigning from my position. When I turned in my two weeks notice, I honestly thought God would put me in another position that same month. After all, he knew we had bills that needed to be paid. However, the story has played out much differently. I still am unemployed. But thank God I am not unchanged. The amount of lessons that I have learned in this short period of time are more than I could possibly type in a blog! But I want to share one that I pray I will never forget. Growing up my family had financial ups and downs. I never knew this until I got older. I always had food to eat, clothes to wear, and a roof over my head. We also had toys and things that we just wanted to have. My parents did there very best to give to us. I am and always will be grateful for their sacrifices and their provision! However, when I met my husband and we started sharing with each other about our upbringing, including what our Christmases were like... my heart grew extremely heavy. I thought, though I don't know I've ever told him(guess he knows now), why was I so blessed with stuff and several gifts for Christmas even as an adult, and he wasn't. He would say he was extremely blessed. And until this time of not having a job, I didn't really understand what he meant. I have heard him say several times this Christmas that it's not about the gifts. It's about being with your family. It's about Jesus and the joy you find in him! I just watched an episode of 60 min about families in Cleveland, OH that are having to abandon their homes because they can't pay their mortgage. 1 in 5 homes there have been deserted. The more I heard the more infuriated I became. I started telling my husband how upset that made me. This morning in Sunday School the popular question was... Are you getting what you want for Christmas...or...have you gotten everything for Christmas?....Those questions and that story on 60 min just made me think... In the midst of all our stuff, What are we doing as Christians for all the people in our own country that are in such need? Do we even know who they are? Do we know people well enough to really know what would help them? A bag of groceries, a book of stamps, help on the mortgage, the car payment, the light bill, the water bill, gas for the car, a new jacket....the needs are endless...In this economy, people that once were financially set are now struggling. Its hard for most people to share their needs. But here's the lesson I hope I never forget....Let Jesus know what you need. He will provide!!! I have seen this time and time again over the past few months. We pray everyday, several times, for a job for me. We hand our needs to God. And every month he provides food, pays our bills, and little extras to make us smile.  But my lesson has been this...Meaghan, when I bless you with something, you immediately bless others. You keep your eyes open for the people I'm going to bless through you. You keep your ears open to hear what people need, even when they aren't asking for it. You keep your heart open to love my people. I pray that I will never forget ....Jesus is looking at all of us saying..."You give them something to eat." ~Luke 9:13. I pray that we will, as a church, get back to Acts 4:32-35. God made a promise to Abraham a long time ago...I will bless you and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. It still holds true today...God blesses us so that others will be blessed through us. Let's go be a blessing!