One Outing, Multiple Blessings

I had my first "out-of-home" experience yesterday since returning home from the hospital two weeks ago.  I attended the morning worship service at my home church, First Baptist of Lake Butler.  It was great to participate in corporate worship again and to hear my pastor, Jason Johns, preach again.  I also saw the "JOY Tree" in the church lobby surrounded by JOY Boxes for nursing home residents.  This is a ministry initiated by James Croft Evangelistic Association two years ago.  The church has set a goal of 200 boxes!  Praise the Lord!!

After service one of my sisters, Melissa, and her daughter and I went to Lake City for lunch at Applebees.  I'm still unable to drive, so she was my chauffeur - don't tell her I said that.  Anyway, we saw a family from my church and a family from a church in Lake City, and we all spoke.  During the meal the waiter handed me an Applebees gift card and said "Santa Claus" wanted me to have it.  He would not divulge the name of the donor, only saying they said it was from Santa.  It was a $75 gift card, what a blessing!

I don't know if the gift was from one of the two families or not, but the Lord knows the donor and I have asked Him to bless them tremendously for this random act of Christian kindness.  It's so interesting how the Lord works, because Brother Jason's message was about letting others "see" your kindness.  Basically, we should not just let the world hear the message of Christmas, but let them see the message of Christmas.  You can hear his message here.  I had a similar experience three years ago and you can read about it in this post.

To top the day off, the youth group from First Baptist Church of Olustee came for a visit Sunday night and brought a couple of boxes of food they have been collecting.  We had a great time of fellowship and laughter.  I pray the Lord greatly blesses them for being such a blessing to me and my family.

It was wonderful day and felt good to finally get out of the house even though it was somewhat tiring.  I hope this is just the beginning of a full recovery that will allow me to soon continue doing what the Lord has called me to do.