Being His Hands and Feet

Today, a group of us had the opportunity to reach out to a new friend, Amy (a new friend to me) and be God's hands and feet to her.  Her father recently passed away and because she was being a dear soul to take good care of him in his dying days, she was unable to give her beloved gardens the attention she usually likes to.  And, as we all know, unless you can stay on top of your gardens regularly, they can become overcome with weeds.  A friend and workmate of Amy's, Meagan, was given the idea to gather a group of women together to help Amy combat this task.  You see, last year, Amy was God's hands and feet to Meagan as she battled stage 3 breast cancer.  One of Meagan's favorite gifts during that time from Amy was a scrapbook to uplift and encourage Meagan through her battle.  So Meagan put out the word, and friends from church and their workplace, Lou Malnatis (big, huge YUM!), showed up with tools in hand to do the best we could to give Amy a good jumpstart on recovering her lovely gardens.  It was a complete surprise to Amy when Meagan knocked on her door with sign and balloons in hand at 8 a.m. Amy quickly composed herself and we helpers started to trickle in.

Meagan and Amy - Surprise!!!

 Amy worked along side us and we got to know one another and enjoyed some really good fellowship time while putting in some good, hard work and helping a friend at the same time.

Betty & Sue

I was also so touched and impressed by a couple of the ladies who went the extra mile to add to the fun and comfort of the day.  One woman, Sue, made the most delicious zucchini bread ever and brought a cooler of water bottles to share and another woman, Wendy, brought everything the rest of us seemed to forget (plenty of kneelers, garden waste bags, donuts - those are totally necessary when gardening, right?) along with a gift for Amy and some pansies to add more colors to the gardens.  Very thoughtful of you, ladies.

Wendy D. - the Oh-So-Dramatic Gardener (but she brings donuts, so we'll forgive her!)

More friends helping in the backyard.

We even had Meagan's wonderful husband join us so that was nice too!

This isn't Meagan's husband, but it is Meagan!

As life goes on and we all have our ups and downs, I know so many wonder, "What's the point?  I mean, why am I even here?"  God needs you, with your special giftedness, at this exact time, to be here on earth being his hands, feet and voice for him.  It just plain and simply comes down to that.  Sure, some of us are gifted writers, writing fabulous, inspiring books and some of us are gifted speakers and others are gifted to be brave, hard-working missionaries, but there isn't a day that goes by that someone in your immediate life doesn't need a hand or a kind word.  Be that person for them.  There's a reason it feels so good (and it ALWAYS does) - it's what we're here to do!

Amy's adorable cottage home.