Abundant Blessings & Leftovers

I've been blessed so abundantly and here's a picture of another. After God showered us so richly with all the answered prayer for our Operation Christmas Child packing party last Saturday, my friend Judy Craynon blessed me on Sunday with the gift of this gorgeous lap quilt she made for me.

This might sound bizarre, but I have this thing about warmth being a sign of God's love to me. When I feel sunshine on my back or the coziness of the blankets on my bed or something like the warm comfort of this magnificent gift, I feel it as a sense of God's presence. So this special gift will be reminding me of God's love (and of Judy's friendship and giving heart) for years to come.

I went to our storage container on Wednesday and made an attempt to inventory our leftovers from last week's packing party. It was tough to be accurate but I was amazed to find that there's enough stuff there to probably do another 1000 boxes. Only God knows how that happened.

After my little inventory I went to Panera Bread to have a celebration and debriefing with my packing party committee. I had it on my heart to do another packing party and invite some folks from the community who are usually on the receiving end to help us pack the boxes. Considering all the work we'd completed only days before, I was afraid to broach the subject, but when I did the group was all for it. What a great foursome they are and a true gift from God.

It's hard to believe that only a few months ago I felt so alone in the planning for the packing party--adrift really. But God brought this group together and I'm just totally blessed by their competence and dedication.

Details are still up in the air for another mini-packing-party but I know God will bring it together in His time. Meanwhile, between church rummage sales and donations there were another 300 stuffed animals to sort and clean this weekend. I don't believe these animals are destined to sit in the container until next year. God has a plan for them to be on their way in those special shoeboxes--whether from Erie or from some surrounding area that needs them.

Because God's blessings, like His long ago provision of manna, are never leftovers.