Sometimes, on Monday's (especially those falling after a holiday weekend off) it's really hard to get your mind back into gear. However, when you have responsibilities and duties such as being a regular blogger, you can't let that be an excuse and with that comes pressure. (BTW, that is a sure-fire way of getting writers block) UGH! This happened to me tonight. Two hours ago, although I posted my "It's blog time" status on Facebook... at the time, I had no topic. I was trying to reverse-psychology myself into coming up with an idea really fast. #FAIL! So.... I decided to wash my face and get ready for bed, then come back to it.
There I was, in the bathroom washing my face still trying to think of a topic to blog on after an hour or more hour with no luck, I instantly thought... I will blog on "Do you ever wonder why certain things happen to certain people; how the nicest people typically end up with the most adversity while the heartless jerks make millions and never skip a beat?" The topic transpired as I thought of something that happened late last night with a fan on my page, and as I have shared in my book, adversity has been the story of my own life. I finished washing my face, sat at my computer screen ready to bang out a blog and said "better check email one last time" ( BTW, I had just checked it before washing my face) and in my email inbox I found Amy's story; the fan I was just thinking of from last night.
Now, let me tell you who Amy is. Last night, I was up really late because I could not sleep. (Imagine that) All day long, I had been sharing the link to my friend's fundraising page which was started on July 4th to hopefully raise the money it will take to save her son's life on all my social media sites. (see details in my last blog post) I was posting real-time updates on how much we had raised so far, attacking this fundraising mission with Gazelle intensity when I suddenly saw a post from a fan of mine whom I do not personally know; her name was Amy. Amy said that she wished she could help but that she was "raising money for her own purpose, to buy her son who was born "asleep" a headstone, but how nice it was to see people pull together to try and help Kody." I suggested that she share Kody's link on her page and that I would reciprocate by sharing hers on all my social media pages and that way we could help each other without having to involve money. I went further and stated that maybe we could have her on the Hopes Not A Crime radio show and asked her to email me the entire story of her son Caleb to me. She graciously shared our link for Kody's fundraiser and Shellie and I both donated and shared her cause. I of course realized even more, how lucky so many of us truly are.
As I read her ENTIRE story in email, tears overcame me... as I thought... God just connected us, holy Toledo, GOD just TOTALLY happened! (That's what I believe anyway... it's okay if you are not on board with that, it's still a great story.) NOTHING is by chance; it's ALL on purpose, and I say that all of the time; (my whole book is on that very fact in a more generic sense)
Now that I have read Amy's ENTIRE story, I am seriously overwhelmed. I am speechless, like truly speechless. You have NO idea what these kind of moments mean to me! (Nothing like really feeling connected to the big kahuna) I just wrote Amy back telling her that I am a speaker "aka" Hope Ambassador, for Hopes Not a Crime Ministry and that we look for people JUST LIKE HER to share their stories of keeping hope & faith through adversity, and that we wanted to put her story on our radio show. I cannot wait to hear back from her, this girl has a story much more profound that losing her son and not having enough money for a headstone. It's truly heart-wrenching in many different directions!
To add the final layer to the story, I will share that the radio show's guests are typically booked out three weeks in advance, but Shellie messed up her show schedule during all of her own recent struggles of finding out her son Kody had masses in his lungs and throat and seeing him through sudden lung surgery last week. She made a mistake in all the chaos and has nobody for the show this week which she just shared with me last night in a bit of a panic. We were brainstorming together about it and had come up with a fill-in idea, but then, I saw Amy's post on my fan page... and responded to it, and then she responded back tonight while I was washing my face and simultaneously thinking of her with this unbelievable story of faith hope and perseverance WAY beyond a grave with no stone.
No matter how messed up, depressing, or empty your life may seem at times... be happy that you HAVE life, that you are not mourning over someone you lost or needing to raise money for your own cause. Thank you Amy Keaton, for sharing Kody's cause on your page while you are at the same time trying to raise money for a gravestone for your beautiful little Caleb who went back to see Jesus the very day he was born. I KNOW God will bless you with this simple request; to mark the place where his little child rests. Here is me paying it forward!
CLICK FOR CALEB:
We want to help Amy get that headstone for Caleb but trust me, her story which we will share on air will give YOU MUCH, MUCH more! I will share the link later this week if we get to air her full story on the show!
SO...
The moral of this blog is... you don't have to have money to GIVE to a cause, you don't have to do something over the top to change someones life. All you have to do is put heart into something, FEEL that feeling that stirs within you and ACT on it. Big Miracles and Big Gifts often come in the most simple, least impressive & most tiny packages.
Goodnight, sleep tight may you be blessed beyond your dreams!
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CLICK FOR KODY:
CLICK FOR MY STORY:
WOW, JUST WOW!
XOXO
~SHELLS~
