I Want You To Read This

Reader Kelly sent me the following e-mail, and she gave me permission to re-print it publicly.  It blessed my socks off, and I think it will yours, too:

A month or so ago, you told of the sweet woman  who came up to you when your purse was stolen, and she gave you flowers. I made a comment on your blog, that it inspired me to do something for someone else.

I was inspired to help a friend whose 2 children have been very ill all year. She is very overwhelmed...her family was going on vacation and I wanted to bless her by POWER CLEANING her home for her. This is the one area where she was most frustrated and hopeless. She felt trapped by all the germs her kids had all year long, and they were stuck in the house and she was very very behind in cleaning. It got to a point where she cried and told me her home was no longer her sanctuary but a trap for her....she hated being there.

So I got her permission to clean. She thought it was just going to be me. But I got 5 other friends of hers, and I gave them all a room to clean....over the last week we have all spent countless hours scrubbing, and organizing. We went through every single drawer, cleaning them and organizing them. That house was cleaned from top to bottom. I also organized a group of friends from our church (we share the same church) to make freezer meals. So we stocked her freezer. We even planted flowers in her outside flower pots. We washed all the sheets, curtains, valances. Got her a new shower curtain. Changed her furniture around....we wanted it to be an extreme home makeover. :)

They got home from vacation last night. She opened her door to a fresh, clean, sanctuary. We left flowers on the counter. Cookies, gifts for her and her children. A lasagna in the fridge for dinner, milk and bread. Cards all over the house. IT WAS THE GREATEST THING I'VE EVER DONE. It felt so awesome to give and serve. To know we could bless her, a hurting sister.

That makes me want to go out right this very minute and find someone who needs my help.  Let's do it, friends.