Kestra is my totally girly, totally sweetness, and totally random child. She can come up with things at the spur of the moment that make you go "Wow, where did that come from?" For example, one time Joel left the kids in the car while he ran into Walmart to grab something really quick. When he came back, he asked "Were you good?" without skipping a beat Kestra replied "Daddy, we were as good as ice cubes in the desert!" She is so random and so funny.
However, last night simply touched my heart to the core! I have had an emotional roller coaster of a week to be honest. It has been tough to be in a stressful situation, it has been heartbreaking to watch a dear friend suffer hurtful attacks, it has been physically draining in that I got shots on Tuesday for my trip to Africa and have had some mild side affect, my spiritual being has been torn and drained. So, last night I was sort of in that "I'm really drained all around" mentality.
Joel and I had come home from prayer meeting and had sent the kids to bed for the night. I was ready to just "veg" and watch a movie. Well, Tyler kept getting up for various nonsense reasons and we would send him back to bed. Then Kestra came out, totally unusual for her, and said "Mom, I need to give you something." I sighed thinking okay, another ploy to not go to bed here we go. She then proceeded to open her hand and hand me some change "This is for your trip to Africa, because I love you." Talk about PRECIOUS and wiping away a million stresses of the world! It was a simple small gift of $0.49 but to me it was the greatest gift EVER! I have been blessed with many gifts of money toward my trip - some large, some small but never one as precious or as heartmelting!
This brought to mind the story of the widow's mite. This small lowly widow gave ALL she had to the Lord for His service. Yes, it was a monetary gift and I think in some regards that was part of the point the Lord wanted us to see. However, there is a bigger picture, one of us literally giving EVERYTHING we have for the Lord's service - emotionally, physically, mentally and spiritually. As I pondered this, I realized the burdens and stresses that I am carrying right now are still so far from my ALL! To serve my Lord, I can stand beside a hundred heartbroken friends, I can handle a hundred shots (I pray I don't!), I can wait weeks for a return phone call in regards to my trip, I can be patient with those that I honestly don't like very much...if that is what it takes to give my EVERYTHING to worship and serve Him then Lord bring it!
May I learn from the heart of a 10 yr old girl, that gave her mom $0.49 for a trip to Africa, that the smallest thing I can do for a person is sometimes the thing that means the most to them and perhaps others! Now I am off to take a certain $0.49 to the church for my Africa fund!!!
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