As we packed and loaded the rest of our furniture onto a truck to take to a storage unit, it became quite obvious that not everything was going to make the move. Basically, the Williams have toooooo much stuff!! Chris blames me, but I actually am pretty good at throwing out things that we don't use. I LOVE cleaning out closets and drawers, and I am the queen of taking bags of goodies to a drop-off location. I am bad, however, at holding on to things that have any kind of remote "sentimental value." I still have a horribly ugly tall, yellow, plastic poodle piggy bank that my dad got me when I was a little girl...even typing that makes me giggle :)! I cannot throw it out, and Chris does not understand that at all!! On the flip side, I don't understand why he still has his 10,000 baseball cards that are "valuable" and "worth alot of money." I guess we both have things that we have held on to that have made all of the many moves with us through the past several years. Some things we ran across through the packing, however, were just NOT going to fit in the storage unit, and I kept saying that I wished we could have a garage sale. There was good stuff that we needed to get rid of, but how...when...where...could we do it? There were things like car seats and train tables, but we couldn't think of anyone in particular who needed those items. We had booksleves and desks, pots and pans, bike racks and tire pumps, but, again, no one came to mind who might want and/or need those things. Finally, we decided to move all of the nice items into one room, and we would tell the Sunday School class to come by and get anything and everything they wanted. It would be a free-for-all; they would just need to come and get it.
The next morning at church, we visited the two classes that love and support us. These Sunday School members are some of our biggest fans. They love us, pray for us, and support us financially. We absolutely woud not have made it through our first year at seminary without them! After speaking with the men's class, we made our way to the ladies' class. We were chatting and hugging, when I saw a flyer for a garage sale lying on the table. I quickly asked about it and told them of all of the things we had left behind in the house. I wanted to donate my items to that sale, so at least the church could make some money off of my things. They all acted eager to get the items for the sale, and then they all started laughing as they handed me the flyer. It was announcing the garage sale that they were sponsoring to raise money for their "adopted seminary family"...a.k.a. the Williams :)!
This group of men and women have taught us so much about grace. We have done nothing to deserve their love, yet they love us deeply. We have done nothing to deserve anything that they have done for us, yet they have poured their time, efforts, and energies into bake sales and garage sales to help make our lives easier financially. They have totally and completely served as the hands and feet of the body of Christ, and they have blessed our lives in so many ways. Like I said in my last post, the blessings also impact those doing the serving. Two of the Sunday school members, the Mullins, have reported back to us of the blessings their class members have received as well. I love the way that works!! I know that this type of activity totally blesses the Lord, and it must make Him smile to see His children loving on each other.
There are so many other examples I could give on how so many of you have served as God's hands and feet in our lives. There have been random texts, e-mails, checks in the mail, phone calls, words of encouragement, etc....Each one of you plays a very important role in our story. From Germantown, to Cordova, to Arlington,to Trussville, to Tuscaloosa, to Gadsden, to Montgomery, to Olive Branch, to Southaven, to Waynesboro, to Winter Park, to Birmingham, to Oxford, to Jackson, to Hurley, to Ft worth....God's network of people in our lives is completely humbling and overwhelmimg. I have no idea why the Lord loves us like He does; but I am in awe, and I am thankful!! Thank you for loving us and supporting us in our journey! Thank you for being the hands and feet of Christ!
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