Clowns, Mice and Generosity

I made a friend today. Her name is Sheila. We have talked and met a couple of times before, and today she called me out of the blue.

"Suzanne? This is Sheila. I just wanted to let you know that I had the best Thanksgiving and Christmas this year since I was 12 and wanted to call you and thank you."

This year Dan and I were given a name of a family so we could provide them Thanksgiving and Christmas meals. Our family was Sheila. I called her first in November and we talked through her plans for dinner and what she wanted to make and what she needed to make it. I don't think she has kids, but she is engaged and was planning on cooking for his family.I learned right off that this lady can cook. I loved that, so I had her talk me through her recipes so I wouldn't miss a thing. I picked up the food, dropped it off, gave her a hug and told her I would talk to her in December. December came and we talked again, she told me about Thanksgiving and how grateful she was and then we discussed her Christmas menu. I picked up the food, a couple small gifts, dropped it off, gave hugs and we were off.

As I was buying her groceries for Christmas, I kept thinking about how I wanted to overwhelm her with generosity. Not because I am privileged and wealthy, but simply because Jesus has given to us.

Her call today stunned me. As she was speaking, I began to cry. Not a tear up whimper cry but an all out, "I cannot speak right now because I am choked up on tears" cry. I asked if she minded if I prayed for her, and she opened up about being adopted and how her adopted parents died when she was 12, and because she was adopted her siblings didn't feel she was part of the family. With no parents, adopted parents, or siblings she has felt orphaned for the better part of her 40ish years.


We talked for a long time. She told me about her fear of mice and how she saw one last week in her kitchen and locked herself in her bedroom for 3 days and made her fiance bring her food and juice. And then when she finally ventured out, she wore heels and stomped around to make sure it wouldn't scare her. We laughed hysterically over our shared fear of clowns and the creepy people that must be hiding behind all that makeup.

She wants to go to church with me. She knew I had gotten her name through my church so she told her friends that have been inviting her to church that she would go with them, but she wanted to go to my church first as a way to say thank you.

Sheila said many humbling things today but the one thing that really sticks out is when she said our gifts and food made her feel like she wasn't alone and that there were families out there that love.

I can't take this all in right now. All I could do is thank her for allowing us to share in her life. And right now all I can do is thank God for orchestrating all of this.

We give because He gives...and then He overwhelms us with more giving.