Waiting for someone waiting on God

When Pastor Thurm mentioned the dollar cause idea at church I thought it sounded like a great Idea.

Tami and I jumped on board with the idea of giving a couple extra dollars a week, we even tried to give it all at once rather than just a dollar at a time, but Thurm had other ideas and told us to give them on a weekly basis. Patience was to be just one of the many things I was to learn throughout this time. I believe this dollar cause idea was to be more than just to give away a few dollars in Christ name. I was to learn and grow in Christ

I didn’t really expect to be one of the people giving away the money. If I had known I might have been reluctant to be part of the dollar cause, but God had other plans. The rules sounded simple enough: find someone (not a member of our church) and hand them the $62 and tell them that a church in Williamston who loves Christ wants to share God’s love with them.

I began my quest with prayer. I wanted to make sure that I didn’t let, my God, my church or my pastor down. I wanted to make sure that whoever received this blessing was truly worthy. I carried the money clipped together in my pocket every day. I didn’t want to miss an opportunity to be free of my quest.

I had many ideas on who not to give it to and when not to give it away. Like I can not give it away while wearing my work shirt, I didn’t want someone to give my employer the credit. I also didn’t want word going around that someone at this place of business is giving away money. I also felt I needed to give it away in the city of our church. I had so many other stipulations that this had become a burden that I longed to be free of.

I prayed continually asking God for help and wisdom. One of the things that helped me most was when God reminded me this was His money and He could give it away however and to whoever He wanted. I just needed to be patient and wait upon the Lord. I would see someone and wonder to myself if this was the person I was to give the money to.  I joked that it would be nice to have a flashing arrow above someone’s head pointing them out as “The One”. It didn’t quite happen that way though.

I was in a LTG (life transformation group) with Thurm. After our weekly meeting I pulled out the wrinkled money that I had been caring for several months now and showed Thurm that I was still carrying it. He mentioned I wasn’t the last one to still be holding on to the money and joked with me to “give it away“.

I went to D & W fresh market after our LTG was over. I had gone thru the store and was just about finished when I remembered something on the other side of the store. I rounded the corner by the fresh bread and stopped to look at wine. A woman approached me and ask me about a particular wine. I know very little about wine, but we got into a conversation anyway.

She mentioned something about God and that it is amazing how God brings people together. I found out her name was Sheri and that she was a photographer. She told me of  her desire to serve God by providing landscape wall murals of her photos for people in long term care facilities. I told her of my travels in the military and of being a Christian also. As we talked she mentioned again that God puts people together for a reason. I agreed and thought, “Wow! Maybe she is ‘The One‘ for the dollar cause money“. 

We had talked about her business and she gave me her card. I noticed the city listed was up north, not the local one she had mentioned. I asked her about it and she said she and her family were staying in a hotel, while repairs were being made to their house. I asked about the repairs and Sheri explained how their house had recently caught fire and a good portion had burned. She said thankfully no one was home at the time of the fire. She also mentioned that the fire had started in the attic. She recommends everyone have a smoke detector in the attic.

Well as soon as I heard about the fire I immediately knew I was to give her the money. So as I stumbled to say that the church I attend in Williamston had collected  $62 dollars for us to give way in the love of Christ. I handed her the money, she just looked stunned for a moment and asked me if I was for real? I told her that I had been caring it for several months and she was the one God pointed out. She almost cried.

I had one more confirmation. Just after handing her the money I received a phone call. I don’t receive many calls, so I looked to see who was calling. It was Pastor Thurm. You may receive calls from him, but it was unusual for me especially just after handing the money away! This to me was another sign she was the one. I answered and let him know what had just happened.

God taught me several things during this $62 quest. The most important lesson was to wait on God, He will provide in His timing. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to serve and learn more about God and who He is.

Glory be to God!

Randy

Helping Someone who Helps Others

I go to Jolly Road / Dunckel McDonalds often because it has a Playplace.  One day a few weeks ago, I met Lupe’ who is a grandmother raising her nephew of elementary school age, pretty much on her own financially.  So the $1 Cause idea came in, but I wasn't one of the people who had been given the money.  So, I got her phone number instead. 

I came to church the Sunday after that and that was the Sunday Thurm gave some of the $1 packets out in the service.  So I took one wiht Lupe' in mind.

But I couldn't find her number after that.  What to do?

Then I met another woman who runs a program called Kinship Care.  Francine had just been in surgery and was in rehab.  She was overwhelmed with some of the things going on in her life and on top of that she was bothered that she couldn’t get her grandchildren anything for Christmas. 

I decided to take care of this person who takes care of others.  So I called and went up to the hospital she was in and went to give it to her, but she wanted to make sure it didn’t come from me, as she knows I don't have alot of extra to give.  And so, with tears she accepted our $1 Cause money.

Sarah Riggs

"Are You from Williamston?"

I don’t even remember how long ago I got my packet of dollars to give.  I actually kept forgetting about it because of Christmas.  I’d thought that I would run into somebody in the HIV clinic where I find subjects for my research but just kept waiting and praying for the right person.

Finally, as I was walking through the lobby in the health department that our clinic shares with the county dental clinic, a woman actually reached out and grabbed me, saying, “Are you from Williamston?”  I took her hand in mine and said, “No, but I do go to church there.”  So for several minutes, I stood speaking to her, holding her hand in the midst of a very crowded bunch of folks waiting to be seen.  (You have to have been in a place like that, on welfare or in line for free Christmas presents, in order to appreciate the atmosphere of despair and shame that people experience in that lobby.)

She explained that she had grown up in Williamston but had rebelled against God and left her home and was having a rough road finding her way back.  She thought she recognized me, but I wasn’t the person she was thinking of.  Maybe something about me just spoke to her of home.  So, somehow we got to talking of prayer and she said that she wished that she could pray and sound as good as other people so, and I said, “Well, just pray!  Talk to Him the way you are talking to me!”

So, I went on my way after a little talk, because I had to go and buy dry ice to ship the specimen of a subject that was coming in a little later.  After I left her and started down to my car, I thought, “Duh!  I wonder who I am ever going to run into that the Lord can be more obvious about!  I run around lost in thought and unaware of the people around me to the extent that they have to actually grab me to get help.”

So then came the great debate because it meant that I had to walk all the way out to my car to get the money out of my purse locked in the trunk and all the way back and then all the way out again to get the dry ice, etc, and tried to bargain with God that if she was still there when I got back that I would give her the money then.  (I was parked about a football field away from the building and the walk through the building itself is considerable.)

Of course, that was stupid on my part and by the time I got out to my car, I reconciled to getting a little much needed exercise, pulled out the money and took it back.  (I pulled her out of the lobby for fear of causing a riot and subsequent mugging.)  At first she wouldn’t take it, and then asked how much it was.  I wouldn’t tell her and said she had to take it in order to find out how much it was.

She explained the financial need that she was experiencing. And, there are even more details that I could go on and on about, but as I left her, I said, “You think that you are so far away from God, but He wants you to know that He is not at all far away from you and loves you.”  What a lovely experience!

Linda Williams

Why was this so hard?

I never would have thought that giving away $62 would have been as hard as it was.  I found myself over-thinking everything to the point where I caught myself passing judgement on the potential recipients of this money.  “If I gave it to this person, they would only use it to buy more cigarettes, or this other person would only blow it on this or that or the other thing.” 

I struggled with this for close to 6-8 weeks, which I have to admit became very frustrating, until the day finally came.  I was in D&W at the Deli when I overheard the women behind the counter telling a customer about her circumstances around Christmas.  The customer asked the clerk whether or not she had her Christmas shopping done.  The clerk responded that she  didn’t but was going to get it started the following day.  She went on to say that her husband’s car needed to be repaired and her car needed a new strut and she really didn’t know how she was going to get all of that taken care of on top of Christmas shopping. 

As I became more and more entrenched in this conversation, it was interrupted when another clerk asked me if there was something that she can help me with.  With that, I removed myself from listening to this conversation, ordered my food and went on with the rest of my shopping. 

As I continued my grocery shopping, I became more and more certain that the this clerk has a need that, although could not be resolved by just $62, could be lightened by this gift.  I went back to the deli to give this gift away only to find out that the clerk was in the back doing dishes.  As I waited, she finally came up and asked me if there was something that she could help me with.  I told her that there was and I handed her the gift.  When I told her that some Christ followers in Williamston wanted her to have this, she looked at me and started to cry.  She then came around the counter and hugged me.  With tears running down her face, she said that she knew exactly what she was going to do with the money and informed me that she was going to use it to repair her car. 

Seeing the impact of this gift made me reflect and even question myself on why I made it more difficult than what one would think.  However, it also showed me that no matter how much I struggled with this, God made sure that the time was right and I am now confident that she was the one. 
 
Lauri Schmidt

Setting up a surprise in the mail

I was at work one day when one of my coworkers helped one of the hundreds of people our call center receives to enble them to get their insurance license so they are cleared to work in that field. In return, my coworker got an email explaining that the person he helped had been unemployed for a long time and would now be able to work. His first paycheck would come just in time for his children to celebrate Christmas. 

This person lives in Tennessee,  so I dropped the money in a plain white envelope with a note that it was from a group of Christ followers in Williamston, MI. There is no way to know how/if it was received, but I pray it was a blessing!

Joanna