**Note: I couldn't bring myself to finish this post yesterday, but this has really been my "thankfulness" for the last few days. Sorry for the tardiness of the post, but it doesn't negate the amazingness :)**
Today I am, as my friend Heidi said, "just thankful"!
Last Friday my husband and I drove downtown to participate in outreach to our city's homeless community. We have gone several times (try to make it at least twice a month) and have begun to foster relationships with some of these people. We go down and feed them, worship with them, pray with them, and hand out needed items (clothes, toiletries, underwear, socks, etc). Every single time we drive home feeling like we don't deserve all that we have.
It is so easy to dismiss these people and assume they all made bad choices, are habitual drug users, are lazy, or a myriad of other stereotypes that just don't pan out when you actually hear there stories. Yes, there are those that use drugs and those that have mental problems. Some of them might be lazy and have made bad choices. But they are people first and foremost. They have hearts and feelings and emotions and needs and desires just like the rest of us.
Serving these men, women, and children (do you know how heartbreaking it is to serve babies and small children?) has been one of the most rewarding things I've ever done! To see the genuine gratitude in their faces over something as simple as potato soup and crackers. Or to see the smile when you actually shake their hand...you can't help but be touched by these souls.
I've begun to see how close we all are (yes, even you) to being in the same position as these people. How the simplest of circumstances can alter someone's life forever. And it's an incredibly sobering experience. I am so thankful for the opportunity to get to know these people and I'm thankful that God is changing my heart because of it!
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