I was waiting for God to show me someone with whom to minister and was in no hurry as it was God’s time. But tonight my daughter was with me at dinner and wanted to pay the tip for the table next to me. I asked her why them. She thought they were cute and that there was something about them. I was torn at that moment because I wasn’t sure she understood the depth of the program, but I also thought, “If this is who God has laid on her heart, who am I to interfere.” I tried to explain that it was really something more than giving to a cute older couple.
Wouldn’t you know it, apparently God was preparing us to notice the next couple who sat at that table. Without going into detail, in the event they too attend Grace, a young woman and man sat down. It was apparent that one of them was flipping the bill for the other who sat on their cell phone without saying one word the entire time. I felt as if the one party was craving love and attention while the other party was just along for the ride. I could feel this person’s pain and see it in their face. Quite honestly, I wanted to talk to this person, hug him or her (protecting identity) and tell them they are loved, as I just want to love on people, and felt to my core it was needed. I didn’t, however, as we were trying to remain anonymous.
I was sidetracked by a conversation with another table, but my daughter saw this person crying when made aware of the situation, expressing disbelief and gratitude. The “date” was nowhere to be found after he or she ate, leaving this individual to supposedly pay the bill. If only a little love and happiness came over this seemingly sad individual, we were blessed. Thank you God, Grace and Matt for this wonderful opportunity to share the love of God.

Convoy of Hope to help feed refugees fleeing from the war

I bought the devotional JESUS CALLING with the Challenge. My mother passed away 3 years ago of cancer. She always had a JESUS CALLING book to pass out to people. She passed out over 75 books and talked to people about Jesus. She claims the devotional and the Bible carried her through her traumatic journey. She was such a testimony giving her complete trust and faith to God. She sat down with me and told me, “Wendy, if it is God’s will to keep me here on Earth with my girls and my dad then that was great. However, if it was God’s will to call her home ……then she was ok with that too. She told me to remember on her last breath that she will be walking into the arms of Jesus.” At her funeral, we passed out another 200 books. I decided to buy a Jesus Calling (with the $10) to have in my purse at all times to pass out to people. Just like my mom used to do. I decided to give the book to a friend that just lost 2 close family members this month. I am not sure if she is a believer or not and that made me nervous. I gave her the book and she broke down in my arms and started crying telling me that she was picking up her relatives ashes today. We talked for awhile about God and our loved ones that we have lost. I am planning on buying another book and having one with me at all times in case God encourages me to give it to someone else. Thank you for this Challenge it has brought me closer to God.

I held onto the 10$ for a few days, and intentionally prayed over the envelope in hopes God would bless it however it was used. Today while grabbing coffee and a bagel for my wife, a lady in front of me had trouble finding her card, after i had overheard she recently just found her purse after it being stolen. God was able to use that money to buy her and her son breakfast. The 10 wasn’t enough for their tab, but the owner was inspired by the giving and decided to cover the rest.

I stopped in Walmart just to quickly grab some milk. As I approached the refrigerator a young woman with a toddler in the cart was counting out change on the other side of the aisle. As I reached for my milk, she came up beside me and put the half gallon on milk from her cart back in. I just had to open my mouth and ask, no milk today for you? Her look confirmed she didn’t have enough money. I handed her the $10 and said please get a gallon and something else you need. She tried to refuse, until I told her it wasn’t a gift from me, but was God looking out for her. She shed a few tears, and told me she needed that reminder and would for certain pay it forward. I was walking away when her toddler handed her the other $20 I handed him while she was grabbing the milk and told him to give this to mommy.

I will be giving my $10 to my daughter. She is going from a full time worker to a stay at home mom. She is struggling with many questions such as is she able to teach her 2 year old things he needs to know and learn. I know she’s scared so this $10 will be for her to take herself and her little one to Bruster’s to get ice cream on a day she just needs to get out of the house and just enjoy one of the small things in life.

This week I had been praying for God to give me direction/opportunity on how to use the $10 we received. On Wednesday I had to meet with a vendor for work, it had been a year since we had last talked. During the visit he shared with me his wife was diagnose with stage 4 lung cancer. As I listened to everything they have been through and the treatment, it was clear that this was who I needed the give the $10 too. At the end of the meeting I got the envelope out of my car and gave it to him. I explained the background of the envelope and that I had been praying about it, he was overwhelmed. I asked him to use it to take his wife out for a coffee or dessert for encouragement. Thank you for challenging us.

I had been praying about what to do with the $10 and trying to be open to what God was calling me to do, when a friend I hadn’t spoken with in a long time called because she needed to talk. She had been pregnant and recently experienced a very traumatic miscarriage and needed someone and felt so alone. We spoke for a long while and I prayed for her but felt like she needed to hear God even more, so I used the $10 to get her the book “Held” – a book of biblical reflections to help her through this journey. I pray that it draws her closer to God and he holds her in his heart.

The timing of the $10 challenge came the day before our son’s birthday. He would have been 3 years old, but he passed away as a preemie at 3 days old. We decided we wanted to minister to and bless his NICU nurse. We only ever saw her those two days she had him in her care, but she went above and beyond to take care of us and him during that very challenging time. So I wrote her a heartfelt letter expressing my abundance of thanks for all she has done to encourage me even as these three years have passed. I also wanted to build her up and encourage her, as I’m sure being a NICU nurse is a very challenging and emotionally draining job. In the letter I also shared my faith and some Scripture with her. I don’t know if she is a Christian and this will build her up, or if she is not, but it will plant a seed that God can use. We used the money to send her a gift card with the letter so that she can be blessed by whatever she chooses to get.

We recently heard of a couple who could use some financial help. The husband isn’t working due to an injury and they cannot survive without his income. We decided to give a little more and send them a $100 giant eagle gift card along with the $20 cash ($10 from each of us). They said they couldn’t thank us enough!

So grateful that God put it on your heart to do this challenge, Matt! You’re truly doing what you were called to do!

I will start by saying that I missed church last week because I wasn’t feeling well, but after listening to the message online and learning about the challenge, I was inspired to reach out to someone I have never actually met before that suffered a terrible loss recently through a house fire to offer some financial support and prayer! What an amazing challenge to help us not only consider our blessings, but look for ways to bless others!

I’m giving my $10 plus donation of my own to the Washington County Humane Society.

Bought cards for someone feeling low & someone who deals with A LOT on a daily basis.

A young girl who works weekends at a local restaurant supports herself as a full time student at Pitt. After overhearing her talk about struggling to fill her gas tank and work her two jobs, I approached her towards the end of the day and asked her if $10 would make a huge difference to her day. With tears immediately filling her eyes, I pulled out my envelope received last Saturday at church. I explained where it came from and reminded her how much God has her under his wings. After that encounter I realized how much more I also needed to surrender my life, and finances over to God. The act of giving returned to me a stronger relationship of trust with God, and encouraged to pursue that relationship with Him even further. Such an amazing experience, and cannot thank Grace for allowing me to participate in such a divine exchange.

While checking out a patient at my office and unfortunately breaking the news that they did in fact owe one more payment when they thought they were done paying for braces for 3 kids over 10 years, we joked about breaking the news with her husband. I grabbed my $10 I’d been carrying all week and said please buy him a treat to soften the news. After telling her our church’s mission this week she also shared her good news about her sons medical condition that we have prayed over for years. An hour later she called to tell me she and her son left here, stopped and got a coffee together to celebrate and share some rare mother / son time. The son then took the remaining $4 to school so he and his sister could buy the bracelets they were selling to aid the Ukrainians. She thanked me for blessing her with those precious moments with her son and reassurance of his giving heart.

I chose to do add to the $10 and donate to two organizations. I felt led to give to a little boy who I don’t directly know but is the nephew of my nephews friend. This little boy fell in a pond and nearly drowned. They worked on him for two hours. At the moment they called his mom into to say her last good bye she prayed to God to give him life and his heart monitor began to beep. Praise Jesus, he is here with us but with many neurological issues to overcome. They are raising money for his treatment.
The other donation is to the civilians in the Ukraine who need food, clothes and medicine. May God bless them and their Country.

As if I haven’t rambled on enough, I forgot another important part of our story. Just as I was trying to get out before the table found out about the gesture, the table next to me was bending my ear about my profession. I gleaned from conversation that she was an atheist (or agnostic – her husband said she doesn’t really know WHAT she is, lol). You KNOW I (GENTLY) asked her some questions like, “why would she go to a prayer vigil for Ukraine if she was atheist, and WHY she was sad and praying for her friends in Ukraine if she was atheist. I also (GENTLY) threw in about fifty times that my daughter and I PRAY for Ukraine and the world all the time, etc.. Additionally, because they had asked for my biz card which was in the car, I ran one back in. The waitress who handled our anonymous payment for the young “couple?” was at this other table trying to whisper to me in front of the atheist how grateful the customer was who’s dinner we had paid. I HOPE and believe when I quickly left, the waitress explained to the atheist what had gone down. Maybe, just maybe it planted a seed. I pray it did.

I gave the envelope to a homeless veteran I encountered Sunday afternoon.

I was in Columbus, Ohio for a wedding and I got out of the vehicle I was riding in when we arrived at the rehearsal dinner. A homeless woman came up to me and explained how she needed money for food and as the conversation went on she said she felt the money I gave her was a gift from God without me ever bringing it up about where the money came from.

My husband and I donated our 20 plus 30 more to a Anchorpoint Counseling Ministeries to go toward mental illness and education They are a nonprofit raising money and Anchorpoint will donate 500.00 for every 5 donations they receive to help with mental illness. A co-worker of mine husband works for them. Mental illness is such a huge crisis in our world.

My husband and I donated our $10 (plus some) to a 7th grade student who needed new clothes. : )

I reached out to a friend who is having a difficult time getting pregnant by sending a card with a message that I’ve been thinking about her. I also included a gift with inspirational Christian stories relating to her situation.

My husband and I have kept in touch with the young couple who bought our home in November. They are a great couple and had a sweet baby girl this past week. We decided to give them a door dash gift card and a couple baby things. It’s been a blessing to keep up with them and watch them make the house their home!!