Gift giving . . .a little.

I’m excited about giving gifts to those of you who entered one of the giveaways I have posted lately!  In case you didn’t hear the latest – you could win the gift of some free shopping from Nicole Gibboni, a Christian Bling Consultant.  If you make a purchase from her website www.ctbling.com/HisGoodness and use the party code 1825; you are automatically entered to be the hostess and win free shopping!  I am absolutely loving the Meditative Palm Cross as a Stocking Stuffer for teen boys and grown men.  It’s only $12.00 and such an awesome, prayerful, masculine gift!  Definitely check it out and get some Christmas shopping done!

And I do have a small amount of gifts bought I’ll be giving at Christmas . . .

But, honestly, giving is on my mind in a more somber way.

I have been wondering . . . what is the difference between “Giving it to the Lord” and “Giving Up”?

I feel like my husband and I are going to have to make some choices about our adoption plan and decide where to put our energy, money and time . . . and I don’t know where God wants me to give up – or if He does at all.

In a sense, if I “give it to God” . . . isn’t that another way of saying, “I’m done.  If it’s meant to happen; it will.  I don’t need to try anymore.”?

That sounds like giving up to me.

So here I am.  Confused.

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m happy and grateful.  I have a wonderful husband and we have been given the greatest son!  We love him and we all love one another.  We are blessed, and I can not put into words how grateful I am to God that he gave me this vocation of motherhood.

But even our son talks about having a baby brother AND a baby sister.

Have you ever felt this way?  Have you ever wondered what God wants you to do next . . . and what He wants you to let go of?

I feel like I  need to ask the Lord more than “open all the right doors and close all the wrong ones.”

I’m actually overwhelmed with awe and gratitude for all of the open doors!  I think that is my dilemma . . . we can’t go through them all!

How do I “give it to God” and not be giving up?

Is it as simple as the Serenity Prayer?

God, grant me the serenity to

accept the things I can not change;

the courage to change the things I can; 

and the wisdom to know the difference.

I really need wisdom!

In the meantime, I’m enjoying what I have been given.  Christmas time with a four year old is pretty awesome

If you have any wisdom, please share it with me!  I ask you to pray for our family – with the hope that it will grow, but most of all that we will know God’s will and embrace it joyfully.

I also hope you are inspired to give a “Spiritual Stocking Stuffer”!  Please, enter all the giveaways, I’m excited to give these awesome gifts away!

Spiritual Stocking Stuffers for Women

Spiritual Stocking Stuffers for Men

Spiritual Stocking Stuffers for Children and Teens

As always, thank you so much for reading this post!

May we all joyfully give to the Lord and others this Advent!

The post Speaking of Giving . . . appeared first on Prayer Wine Chocolate.

Getting there as early as I could and staying until late in the evening, and eventually sleeping there every night was how we spent our first weeks together as mother and child.

I asked the doctors every day, “When can we take him home?”

Visiting the sick can be challenging.  Finding the time to give in our very busy lives,  taking into account when the sick person desires a visitor,  and the health of ourselves and our young sidekicks that may be joining us on our visit are all factors that must be taken into account.

But when we visit the sick, we give our most precious commodity – our time.

That is LOVE.  Dropping all our routines, everything on the perpetual “to do” list, and giving our time, our presence and our attention is love in a very true and real form.

Love is not easy sometimes, is it?

When I reflect on this work of mercy, I don’t like what I see in myself.  I realize that I am selfish when it comes to “my” time.  How lucky am I to be healthy?  How lucky am I to have time to do anything I do each and every day?  Reflecting on this I realize that this is something I need to work on – I need to be more generous and giving with “my” time.

My Grandmother has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s, and I really need to visit her more. I love visiting her and I know she enjoys the visit too.

But what about the friend who is getting cancer treatments?  There are days when they are not “up” for visitors.  Send a text or give a call and ask, “Are you up for a visit?”.  If they are not, send them a card.  My good friend Traci who beat breast cancer said she really appreciated the friend that sent her cards (and my random visits).

Do you know a sick person that could use a visitor?  Will you join me and sacrifice some time this week to reach out to the sick and offer a visit?

Have you been sick and appreciated visitors?  What advice would you give?

The post Mocha, Mercy and Mondays: Visit the Sick appeared first on Prayer Wine Chocolate.

I hope and pray you never have to perform this work of Mercy in such a literal way.

But how do we “clothe the naked”?

1. We provide for our children and in some cases our spouses.
2. We fill up bags with our own clothes and donate them to friends or clothing drives.
3. We donate gowns so that girls who are financially struggling can buy a pretty dress to wear on prom night.

But what else can we do?  What else should we do? Or is that enough?

In 2002 I witnessed an event that made me realize how lucky and blessed I am in the clothing department.  It was that year that I was lucky enough to chaperone a mission trip organized by Sister Lisa Valentini, a Missionary Sister of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. The mission trip was to El Factor, a small town in the Dominican Republic. At the time, Sister Lisa was living there.  She was the principal of two pre-schools, in charge of choir and youth group and, with no priest living in that parish, a very important connection for people in the community.  My participation in this trip was very last minute. Another chaperone was needed, and by word of mouth I found out about it and jumped at the opportunity.

In the next two weeks I was sent a lot of paperwork.  Much of it I didn’t read.  I somehow managed to get my ducks in a row and go to the airport.  There, I met the other chaperone and all the teenager missionaries for the first time.  The missionaries had A LOT of baggage.  And that was not because they were young women that wanted to pack lots of choices for outfits.  It was because they were bringing with them donations.  Many of the donations were clothing.  During the two weeks we were spending there, one event we were going to help organize was setting up and working a sale for the village residents.  This sale would allow families to purchase clothes, shoes and other things we take for granted.

Now, back to that paperwork I didn’t read.  We arrived at the airport, where Sister Lisa picked us up, then drove us over an hour to the village where she lived and worked.  We got dressed for our first assignment – clean the convent.  I was in the Caribbean so I wore shorts.  Guess who was the first to shop at the “donation store”?  Yep.  Yours truly.  The information I should have read discussed a dress code.  I was a chaperone – way to go, I was making a banner impression.  Shorts were a no no.  Long skirts and baggie shirts were the acceptable attire.

Anyway, once my wardrobe mishap was straightened out, we all helped sort and prepare for the big sale.  Young people were coming by asking with excitement, “when is the sale?” (in Spanish, of course).  The excitement was for clothes that people like you and I easily throw in a bag, because we don’t need them nor do we want them.  This sale had the whole community excited.

The day finally came for the big sale.  I’m pretty sure the whole town showed up at the community center.  In order to control the crowds, only a certain amount of people were permitted to enter and shop for a given amount of time.  Once the first group was done shopping and exited, the next group were permitted to enter and do their shopping, and so on.  But the crowds got restless, and chaos broke out.

The long anticipated sale had turned into a mob scene.  Sister Lisa had to shut it down. She was heartbroken.

Some of us were working outside for crowd control, others were inside “selling the wares”.  I was outside and had taken a picture of the crowd before it was closed down.

A mob scene – for used shoes and old tee-shirts.

As Americans, we don’t need a stitch-fix, we need a Jesus Fix.  We need a Mercy Fix.

But how can we get our “fix’?  Here are some of my suggestions . . .

1. If you can, go on a mission trip – or sponsor a young person that has a desire to go, but not the funds.  It’s life changing.  It’s up-lifting. It’s hope giving. You’ll help clothe the naked, feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, shelter the homeless, and much, much more.  I personally recommending reaching out to Sister Lisa!
2. Fill those bags and give them away!  Even if you have a hard time letting go. Whether you give those clothes to a third world country, or a family who is down on there luck, it is still a great gift.  Just because it didn’t cost you anything, doesn’t mean it didn’t bring joy to someone else.
3. Find an organization that has a need for clothing.  In the Philadelphia area the Saint Francis Inn helps people daily. Last week I noticed they were in need of several items.  Two of those items were diapers (clothe the naked) and coffee (give drink to the thirsty).  I picked up some and this week I’ll mail it to them.  Every little act of love is still an act of love!  I also noticed the Media Food Bank requested more glove donations because they didn’t have enough in men’s sizes.

How do you clothe the naked?  What other suggestions could help us live this work of mercy?

Have you ever gone on a mission trip?  If so, would you recommend the experience to others?

Please share!

The post Mocha, Mercy, and Mondays – Clothe the Naked appeared first on Prayer Wine Chocolate.

The second corporal work of mercy makes me think of the word “simple”.  Simple, because I am lucky enough to not live in a third world country.  I only need to walk ten steps to get to clean, running water.  I know it’s 10 steps, because I just counted.

Meanwhile, in Guatemala, women like Edelmira, walk twenty minutes from their houses to a community tank where there is water – but not necessarily clean water.  Giving drink to the thirsty can be done for these women and their families through many organizations.  My husband and I give to Unbound.

I would like to talk more about Unbound . . . but first, more about drinking.

When I hear “give drink to the thirsty”, I think about how many circumstances and situations where people “have a drink” together.  How giving someone a drink is usually paired with enjoying a drink with that person (or group of people).

Someone comes to visit: “Can I get you something to drink”?

You haven’t seen a close friend in a while:  “Hey, let’s me up for a cup of coffee!”

A cute guy sees a cute girl and asks:  “Can I buy you a drink?”

You want to celebrate an achievement:  “Let’s go out for a drink!”

Having a drink with someone usually means you have, or want to have, a relationship with him or her.  

For this work of mercy, I can not get the story of the Samaritan Woman from the Gospel of John (chapter 4) out of my head.

John 4:7-10

A woman of Samaria came to draw water.  Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”  His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.  The Samaritan woman said to him, “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” (For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.)  Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink”, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.“

Jesus wants to have a relationship with us.  Jesus wants to have a relationship with all of us.  As Christians, we are called to be a light in the darkness in this world.  We show that light in our relationships.  I believe, in this Gospel story, Jesus is reminding us that we can have relationships with people even if we disagree on fundamental beliefs.  It is through a relationship that we demonstrate God’s love.  It is through relationships that God will show His Mercy to others.  As long as we keep our relationship with Our Lord our first priority, all other relationships can be a chance to not only share a drink to quench a physical thirst, but an opportunity to share eternal life.

This idea of having and building relationships is one of the reasons why I love giving to Unbound.  We were able to choose a person to sponsor.  When we were standing in front of all the different people we could choose to sponsor, I couldn’t help but think, “we can’t afford this”.  And like a blink of an eye, the woman next to me says, “We first did this years ago.  I really felt we couldn’t afford it, but I said to God, ‘God, if I do this, you have to make sure we have enough money to pay our bills’.  And you know what, we always had enough.”

I was reassured that the Lord will provide.  We chose a young girl by the name of Angela. And so far, the Lord has continued to provide for us.  We give a monthly donation and we get the opportunity to know Angela through letters and pictures.  Our donation provides Angela with food to eat, water to drink and many other necessities that I take for granted. Getting letters from Angela brightens my day, and I love writing back to her.  I look forward to her next letter with anticipation.  I can’t wait to get to know more about her and watch her grow up and see the woman she will become.

Perhaps another way I can “give drink to the thirsty” is to ask you, if you’re reading this, to check out Unbound’s website, and consider “giving drink to the thirsty” and developing a relationship with a child, young adult or elder that you can choose to sponsor.  Remember, God will provide!

Lastly, enjoy a cup of coffee or any beverage you love today – and thank the Lord for it! Consider paying it forward at a restaurant.  Consider offering to get a drink for your spouse who’s comfortable on the couch.  Consider sponsoring a person who has to leave his or her home to get water.  May the Lord bless you today, this week and always!

Love and hugs – and cheers!

Amy

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