Tag Archives: Giving

The Giver and The Receiver

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We are blessed with friends. When I think about it, the Lord has given us many opportunities to help our friends in time of need. It’s God’s awesome gift of His grace in our lives that enables us to live out the gospel in tangible ways. It is a joy to be “the giver.” Recently we have experienced what it feels like to be “the receiver” of good things. Friends staying by our side as we experience deep sorrow and loss. Prayer support, meals, cards, and listening to us talk. Friends sending small gifts of appreciation or a gift for no other reason but “just because.”

Last weekend, friends in Florida invited us to get away for the weekend and they treated us to several hours of sailing and dinner afterwards.  We stayed in their home and we were treated like royalty. They rolled out the red carpet for us!  We said our farewell the next morning and drove to our next destination at the beach. The amazing beach front condo was another gift to us. So “the giver” became “the receiver”…humbled by the generosity of others.

Sailing near Cumberland Island
My husband’s phone rings at 3:00 in the morning. He then noticed a text message sent earlier in the night, which he had missed seeing. My husband’s friend needs him by his side. He is very ill with cancer. His family needs his presence. Without hesitation, my husband quickly begins to pack the suitcases and cooler for the long drive home. For he has been “the receiver” of good things from his friend– encouragement in his faith, an example of deep unmovable faith and love for the Lord, a passion for ministry and to change the world through world missions for the gospel of Christ, answered prayers, friendship and more and more. My husband cried and said, “I will miss my friend.”
The Giver and The Receiver. We are both. Humbled that we can give to others, only because of the generosity of God’s gift to us and humbled to be the receiver of the most indescribable gift…only because of His grace.

The Giver and The Receiver