LEE'S TESTIMONY   EUNICE'S TESTIMONY

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This is a testimony shared with me about Christmas. This lady I know personally. She comes to our online Wednesday night Bible study. She goes by the name of Dove. This is her Christmas testimony.

Two weeks before Thanksgiving, two of our three sons and one of our son- in- laws were laid off from their jobs. This recession was affecting my family in a big way. My husband, Joe, had recently retired from GM after 32 years and because of the possibility of the " Big Three " auto companys going under, our retirement was in jeopardy. Christmas was looming.

Our daughter-in-law called to ask me if we'd be offended if they excused themselves from the family drawing so they would be able to get their 3 daughters a little something for christmas. Our youngest daughter ask for the same. Joe and I have a small savings account and I have to admit, I was more than a little concerned about spending any on christmas. Our five children are used to mom and dad overspending on them each year, would they understand.? We were sounding a lot like The Christmas Carol, I know. Bah Humbug!! I thought on it and prayed a lot for a solution.
Our church was collecting coats and outer clothing , toiletries and non-pershible food to put in back packs to deliver downtown to the homeless. I wondered if we, as a family, could do it with them?I told Joe about my plan and he was receptive of it, thinking it was a good idea. We were getting together with the kids for my birthday the following week. We would approach them with it then.
They were taken with the idea. We would forgo our exchange and put a little money into this project. Each couple gave what they could ,the three oldest grandkids, also, and went home with the assignment to go through their closets for any extra coats, hats, gloves, scarves, and blankets. ( we decided we would get gifts for the smaller grandkids as they would have a hard time understanding no santa )
Joe, our oldest daughter, Angel, and myself scoured several goodwill, salvation army, and dollar general stores over the next couple weeks and on friday december the 12th the three of us gathered at our house to assemble the book bags with what we had found. We had 11 book bags, 13 heavy winter coats, 11 wool beanies, 11 pairs of gloves, 11 winter scarfs, toiletries, cans of food, bibles, and 11 blankets that were bungeed to the outside of the bookbags.
The coats were the only things not fitting into the bags. In looking at the coats we discovered 2 of them were womens coats but could pass for mens. ( Our church had also gone before Thanksgiving and told us that they only saw men on the streets ) My daughter, Angel, had received a pair of mens warm boots, size 15! They were in perfect shape. Angel said she was sure God had just the person in mind to use them, despite their largeness!
On Saturday morning, the 13th, at 9 am Joe and I picked up our son, Nathan,( He and his wife just had their 3rd daughter so she stayed with the kids.) and drove to the downtown library to meet the rest of our kids, and 5 grandkids,Our oldest son, Eric and his wife were not able to go because they had to work. The members of our church, who were coming, also met us at the library. We were able to park in front of the library because it was saturday and parking was free.
The church had 14 backpacks and 14 coats. There was also a big box of shoes and a big box of clothes. Our youngest girl, Julie had shared with her boss at Papa Johns Pizza what we were doing and he wanted to contribute. He got up early on that saturday and baked 6 of his largest pizzas for us to take to the homeless. Joe had also bought 4 dozen donuts to share with them.
We met at the library because we were told that it was where many homeless spent the daytime hours when it was bitter cold. ( One of the few places that would let them in ) Temps that day were in the lower 20's! We set up all we had on a concrete ledge that ran alongside the sidewalk. Then we all held hands and ask Jesus to be in control of all the details.
Our 2 sons and a couple of men from church went into the library to look for any who might be in need. First 2 men came out to check us out, then others started appearing from everywhere! Joe and I just stayed back at first so we could watch the Lord minister to these people through our kids and the church people. We watched as our youngest son gave his new gloves to a man with bare hands, we saw people putting their arms around them, people laughing with them, people crying with them, and people praying with them.
We watched as our granddaughters served them pizzas and donuts. After a while they quit coming and we were told of a church 3 blocks from there that allowed a few to come in during cold weather. We still had several , blankets, and toiletries so we headed over there. ( we also still had the womens coats and the size 15 shoes ) The very first people to come out were 2 women, who needed coats! Someone suggested we pray with those people. We got in a big circle as several prayed.
From behind us, I saw a very large black man come up and join our circle. He wanted to pray his way, with a song he wrote to the Lord. He opened his mouth and out came the most beautiful male voice I've ever heard! ( God had sent us an angel) I looked around and there were tears in almost everyones eyes. This man didn't need a coat, or a hat, or gloves, but............................you guessed it, he needed a pair of warm boots for his size15 feet!
There was another man named, Allen, who was battling alcoholism. Having been in that battle, my husband and daughter, Angel ministered to him. He ask us all to pray over him. When all was said and done, we had nothing left but a few toiletries which we left at that church. Joe and I had wanted something that would bring our kids out of self centeredness . Out of their worrying about themselves and their finances. We wanted to feel that way , also.
God's Word tells us the best way to do that is to serve others and to fill their needs. As we shared our familys christmas together in our warm houses, sharing a veritable feast, knowing that later that night we would curl up in warm beds, we had a better understanding of how blessed we truely were. It was in ministering to those precious people that the blessings came. Jesus says that " whatever you do to the least of My brothers, that you do unto Me" Get outside of yourselves, deposit those problems at the foot of the cross. In giving, you will receive, I promise you.

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