Give them HOPE

It was cold, wet and miserable Friday night. I could not feel my nose and I was praying my fingers had not fallen off due to the bitter cold I was experiencing on the rigid night. As I opened my eyes I looked around and all I could see was the soggy brown box that would be my home for the next 7 hours. I lifted my frozen body off the box only to see many other boxes, all cold and soggy, with other members of my homeless village in them. At that very moment it hit me - This could be the live I led; No future of a college education, no beautiful wedding, no spectacular home to come home to and raise my children in. Just in a snap I could be out on the streets, in a cold, wet, soggy box, with a old t-shirt to lay under my head.

Last weekend I participated in a "sleep out" at the Albany Mall call "Hope For the Homeless and the Hungry." We ate soup and drank water as if to put ourselves in a soup kitchen for the night. But the real kicker was where we all would lay our heads for the night. You see, we didn't bring nice tents to set up, and we didn't have trailers to sleep in! No! Everyone that came would sleep in brown cardboard boxes and pray that they didn't leave their blankets at home.
This was such an eye opening experience for me. I got a total of about 78 minutes sleep that night due to my tossing and turning about. I am SO BLESSED! I have a house I can go to. A bed a can crawl in, a warm shower I can use! I mean as I was laying there in my "home" I couldn't help but PRAISE God for all He had blessed me with! Every time I would wake up I would thank Him for blessing me so! It really blows my mind to think that in the blink of an eye, that could be me! I could have it all taken away and I would be left with nothing but the clothes on my back!
Thank YOU GOD! You have blessed me BEYOND my wildest imagination!