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Last spring our small group was doing a study entitled Reckless Faith. We talked about stepping out of our comfort zone and helping others by being the hands and feet of Christ. We wanted to make an impact on someone in our local community. My husband and I knew just the right family. They lived two doors down from us and their yard was overgrown and needed a lot of TLC. They keep to themselves and never engage with anyone in our neighborhood. They also have an adult child with cerebral palsy requiring an electric wheelchair and outside caretakers.
The next day I went for a walk and l prayed. How would we approach them? How would our willingness to help them be received? What if they were offended? But the Holy Spirit tugged on my heart and said 'go'. So I went. I walked right up to the door and knocked. The woman who lived at the house would not come to the door but a caretaker gave me her phone number and said I could call her. I took that as a sign and went right home and called her. We talked for a few minutes and I explained that our small group wanted to come and help them with their lawn. She was hesitant at first and couldnt believe that anyone would want to do that. She had to convince her husband and that took a little more coaxing, but he agreed and we picked a date.
It was a beautiful spring day and members of our small group gathered at our house to talk about the job at hand. Their landscape proved to be in rougher shape than we thought. Small trees needed to be chopped down, shrubs removed, weeds pulled, bushes trimmed, debris hauled to the street and they had sub pump drainage issues. When the woman came home that day she was in awe of her lawn and was amazed that strangers would do this for them. It was a days work for us but for them it was so much more.
We were God's hands and feet that day. We did not preach to them, we did not condemn them for not taking care of their lawn, we reached out to serve them with love and respect.
We hope they will let us come back again this spring so we can shower them with God's love once again.
Last spring our small group was doing a study entitled Reckless Faith. We talked about stepping out of our comfort zone and helping others by being the hands and feet of Christ. We wanted to make an impact on someone in our local community. My husband and I knew just the right family. They lived two doors down from us and their yard was overgrown and needed a lot of TLC. They keep to themselves and never engage with anyone in our neighborhood. They also have an adult child with cerebral palsy requiring an electric wheelchair and outside caretakers.
The next day I went for a walk and l prayed. How would we approach them? How would our willingness to help them be received? What if they were offended? But the Holy Spirit tugged on my heart and said 'go'. So I went. I walked right up to the door and knocked. The woman who lived at the house would not come to the door but a caretaker gave me her phone number and said I could call her. I took that as a sign and went right home and called her. We talked for a few minutes and I explained that our small group wanted to come and help them with their lawn. She was hesitant at first and couldnt believe that anyone would want to do that. She had to convince her husband and that took a little more coaxing, but he agreed and we picked a date.
It was a beautiful spring day and members of our small group gathered at our house to talk about the job at hand. Their landscape proved to be in rougher shape than we thought. Small trees needed to be chopped down, shrubs removed, weeds pulled, bushes trimmed, debris hauled to the street and they had sub pump drainage issues. When the woman came home that day she was in awe of her lawn and was amazed that strangers would do this for them. It was a days work for us but for them it was so much more.
We were God's hands and feet that day. We did not preach to them, we did not condemn them for not taking care of their lawn, we reached out to serve them with love and respect.
We hope they will let us come back again this spring so we can shower them with God's love once again.
Wendy E.
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