Happy Thanksgiving! :)
Today I am so greatful and I have SO much to be thankful for! God has blessed my life in so many ways. I have the most amazing friends a girl could ask dor and my family are just the most wonderful people. Today is Thanksgiving day and it occurs to me to thank Jesus for all the blessings He has placed in my life. Why just today I feel so much more blessed than any other day in the year? I realize this is a feeling I should carry with me through out the year; this feeling of greatfulness. So I am going to try harder to do so.
Last night we made peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches and home made cookies and took them to the homeless people in the downtown OKC area. Let me tell you, if you want to go on a "mission trip", you don't need to look far for helpless people. We were there at night time, which is probably not the safest time to go. But that didn't stop us because we had a bigger mission ahead of us. We met people who were addicts, drug dealers, and people who were mentally ill. These three factors are the biggest reasons why these people are on the streets. We saw (probably a prostitute) two people sleeping together in a car in a dark alley, we also talked with people who were drunk; addicted to the alcohol, but drinking mostly to keep themselves warm for the night.
At the begining on the night I found myself complaining about how cold I was. It was about 35 degrees and I was wearing 3 layers of warm clothes, not to mention a nice warm scarf and hat. Walking through the streets of downtown I felt selfesh for even thinking I was cold. We were only sharing in a small amount of suffering that the homeless people we met go through every night.
We brought a few coats, jackets, sweaters, and blankets along with us to pass out. It astounded me at how unselfesh these people were. The first couple of people we offered a blanket to declined thoughtfully, and told us there were a few people down the street that needed it worse than they did. We told them we had enough that they could have one too, and they told us to just go ahead and give it to someone else who needed it. We also met a man who seemed ashamed that he was homeless and that we were helping him. You could tell he had never done the homeless thing before and seemed pretty sad. He was a very nice man though.
We later ended up right outside of the homeless shelter. There were SO many people there. It just makes you realize how fortunate you are for everything in your life. Not exaclty the material things God has blessed me with, but for my friends and family and the people who care about me. These people have nobody to care for them, and that is why that is our job.
We are just a few kids, with empty pockets. Yeah we might have a lot more than they do, but what we could give them was not money. As much as we might want to, that is not neccesarily what they need. These people who are on the streets are neglected, by America. Nobody gives them the time they need. The suffer from what we do not suffer from and they are not taken care of like they should be. They are not loved. We cannot give them money, but we can give them time. Jesus calls us to love the poor and helpless, and that is our job. That is what He did.
Also, after we ran out of sandwhiches, we ventured off to the bombing memorial. It is a very sad thing to see all the people who lost their lives and the family memebers who lost loved ones. But it also gives you a hope, and the memorial really shows you how much people care. There are so many who cared for the people in the bombing, including the fire fighters and the officers who risked their lives for others. And the people who gave what they could give; their prayers. It makes me thankful and hopeful, that if something ever happened to my family, that they would have good people to take care of them.
Today is such a beautiful day. OU's band is the the Macy's Thanksgiving parade! That is pretty exciting. This morining my best friend Kayla and I took some cookies and cake to the fire fighters at the fire station. It was really fun! I am thankful for so many things! I am so incredibly blessed, today and everyday!
"If I were in your shoes, I'd go straight to God, I'd throw myself on the mercy of God. After all, He's famous for great and unexpected acts; there's no end to his surprises. He gives rain, for instance, across the wide earth, sends water to irrigate the fields. He raises up the down-and-out, gives firm footing to those sinking in grief. He aborts the schemes of conniving crooks, so that none of their plots come to term. He catches the know-it-alls in their conspiracies— all that intricate intrigue swept out with the trash! Suddenly they're disoriented, plunged into darkness; they can't see to put one foot in front of the other. But the downtrodden are saved by God, saved from the murderous plots, saved from the iron fist. And so the poor continue to hope, while injustice is bound and gagged. "
Job 5:16
Have a wonderful day with your families! :)
