Our friends Carol and Frank are retired with a fixed income. They live in a small house on three acres in a rural area. They love the Lord and wanted to serve Him in some special way. Carol repeatedly felt the Lord directing them to step out of their comfort zone and do something bigger.
Their idea was to take much of their investment savings plus all of their emergency savings, and build a small two-bedroom apartment next to their home and share it with people in need. They would call it “His Place of Blessing.”
Carol decorated it with an American Patriotism theme. Several friends donated furnishings, even a patriotic quilt! She added a small bookcase containing a Bible and several good books.
Soon there was a call from the church secretary: “An older woman who lives out-of-state has a son with a terminal illness. She is a Christian and has called several churches asking if anyone could host her for a few weeks, as she cannot afford a hotel.”
Nancy was their first occupant. Daily she would visit her son who passed away after five weeks. Carol would check on Nancy every other day to see how her son was doing. There were opportunities to pray with Nancy and to encourage her. She and Frank went to the hospital to meet and pray with her 49-year-old son who left behind a wife and three children. Nancy returned to her home after his burial.
Carol had just finished cleaning the apartment when three young men—college students from the Czech Republic arrived. They came for a 6-week exchange program to learn English by immersion. Carol and Frank simply loved these young men. They introduced them to their church and to the Christian fellowship for college students.
Carol found some Christian websites in the Czech language that the young men could enjoy: http://www.whoisjesus-really.com/czech/whois.htm http://www.everystudent.com / http://jesusfilmmedia.org/video/1_4432-cl-0-0/czech/the-story-of-jesus-for-children A favorite comic in Czech: http://www.chick.com/catalog/TractList.asp?language=Czech
Funny thing is, “His Place of Blessing” is not just blessing people in need. It’s blessing Carol and Frank as well!
- Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” Psalm 20:4
[Reader: Is this something you might consider doing? Can you foresee any drawbacks? To leave a comment, simply click on the story’s TITLE, then scroll to bottom of page.] _____________
What a beautiful couple with a beautiful vision sharing the beauty of our Lord. Just reading your post Kathleen, one can see the True Vine wrapped securely around ‘His Place of Blessing’.
Thank you, Liana. Indeed. I believe the True Vine IS wrapped around His Place of Blessing.
What a great idea….there is no such thing as retirement when there is always a plan for our life!
That is so true! We never retire from being a Christian and living for the Lord. How boring that would be!