Several weeks have passed now since our garage sales. We were so incredibly blessed by each of these. We only mentioned to a few people that we were going to do this but then some of them told others...etc. We were so overwhelmed by His love and the way we saw His hands and His feet through this. People were so generous in giving what they had to give. We had precious clothes, beautiful jewelry, awesome bikes, games, books, toys, dishes, and even furniture. We had one of our family members provide some awesome handbags that helped bring in some good funds. We even had hangers and Wal-mart plastic bags given to hang stuff and then send stuff home in. Every little detail was covered. We experienced the verse Acts 2:45 that says "and they began selling their possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need" first hand.
We were ministered to in such a huge way. At times it was by those we know and other times it was by complete strangers. There are so many stories but let me share just a few. A sweet friend had donated this awesome Schwinn bike that sat on the ground. A lady stopped by and picked it up. When she came to pay for it she was in a hurry to get back to the car because her son was crying because they had just left the hospital. He had jammed a sucker stick up in his mouth and was in a lot of pain. I started out to the car with her to help put it in and as I started to speak to the little guy she said he doesn't do well with strangers. To both of our surprise he was out of the car and in our house playing with Pierce in no time. She was shocked. She said he had never done that. As they played in the living room she started sharing her life story with me. They had adopted this sweet little guy at birth. His birth mom was a drug addict and he is autistic. They were not able to put stitches in his sweet mouth because he would just pull them out in frustration. She was buying the bike for him because he wanted a "big boy" bike like his sister (who was also adopted) but she wasn't ready to put him up that far off the ground. You can imagine how the Lord used this. It was story after story of people sharing their own adoption stories. Some having adopted and others that had been adopted.
Another neat story was a young mom that stopped in a little frantic. She bought a lot of little knick knack toys. I ask about who she was buying for and she shared that she had actually been at the hospital all day with her father who had come here from Louisana to see a specialist and was admitted unexpectantly. She got the news and packed as fast as she could and just got here. She said she didn't bring things to keep the kids occupied while at the hospital and everyone was going stir crazy. She needed something fun and cheap. She was able to get that because someone gave a basket full of little toys. Again, the Lord knew what was needed!
We had a lady come in and chat for a while. The next day when we were packing up she came back. I told her we were almost all put away and she said, "That's okay. I just brought my husband to meet who we were praying for and talking about." Wow!!!! Family, friends, and COMPLETE strangers praying on our behalf! Amazing!
Last story among so many....there was a woman come in looking at cd's. Jerry walked over to her and ask her what kind she was looking for. She said she liked country. Jerry said we had a few country but mostly christian. She said, "My boyfriend doesn't want anything to do with that." Jerry told her there was some good ones in there. She looked around for a while. There wasn't anyone else here so we had perfect oppurtunity to get to talk to her a little bit more. Come to find out she was so mad and frustration with the church she "went" to that her bitterness was just overflowing. Most of it stemmed from wanting money after money to build buildings and move where they already had the perfect location in her eyes that didn't need to be expanded or moved. She just seemed wounded by the church in so many ways. Jerry was able to share our Lord's love for her and coming just as you are. ............................................
The outcome of these garage sales were great. We were able to hear stories, share stories....and we were blessed financially through them as well. It will be so fun one day to share with the sweet little one the Lord brings into our family how others were praying for them and doing what they could to help bring them home.
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