The Weekend full of Surprises (Part 1)

God has a way of surprising us so that we can't hold our mouth shut!  Thank you God, for the unexpected!

Saturday, I got the opportunity to go Christmas Caroling with Light Up Christmas; an event a really good friend of mine, Leah, puts together every year through her church, Faith Family in Shiloh, Illinois, for everyone to participate that loves spreading the Love of Christ to hospitals, nursing homes, prisons, and special care facilities!  That's a mouth full!  Due to some changes in seasons in our lives, I wasn't sure if I was going to get the chance to join with my friend, Leah, in the caroling this year, but God has a way of making sure good friends stay together and support one another!  I got to bring one of the teens in my ministry with me to share the blessings as well! 

We ended up at St. Paul Nursing Care in Belleville, Illinois, and met lots of amazing people hungry for God's Love!  Me and the teen from my church, Katie, got to help one of the ladies back to her room by pushing her wheelchair.  At first it was just me and Katie offering a couple of cookies and Christmas cards to some ladies at a table in the cafeteria we just finished caroling in, then one of the ladies spoke up and said she thought it'd be a good time to head back to her room.  She looked up at me and looked me straight in the eyes asking if I could help her back....after making sure it was ok for me to do so, we walked her out of the cafeteria and started our way down the hall. 

At first she said we pushed her differently than the others, so I asked her how the others were different.  She said they pushed a lot faster.  I asked her if she liked going fast, and she said, "oooh yes!"  We kicked it into high gear and she knew exactly where to go. 

When we got to her room, she told us that she was dismantling a fruit basket.  Then she asked us how many Christmas trees we thought she had in her room.  She had five. Then she asked us what kind of fruit we liked, and she let me pick an apple from her fruit basket; I helped her dismantle one more piece.

There were a lot of others there that night that were dealing with speach problems, amnesia, mobility, breathing, and maybe even heat exaustion (it was quite warm in there), but you could see the hospitality of the staff, and the hearts of the residents, were open to the joy of Christmas, and that little lady in her wheelchair I'll never forget her gift of sharing.