Where can I give, Lord?

This past Sunday at church there was a message about The Great Commission found in Matthew 28: 18-20. It reads, "¹⁸ Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
The message that day was about how we, as believers of Jesus, can go out and tell people and show people how much Jesus loves them. Sadly, I have not been doing that lately. I have been consumed with issues w/ finances and health that are going on at home. I have not at all been focusing on where God wanted me to go and who He wanted to me help, but how He could help me. Don't get me wrong... there is nothing wrong w/ crying out to Jesus for help~ David did it all the time!

Mine was a heart issue.

Compared to many, I have much. I looked in my closet the other day not having worn all of my summer clothing as of yet, and loving each piece too much to even think about putting it in the "donation pile"~ let alone the "give to a friend who needs it" pile. I have been too consumed with what my needs were to see what others needs were and how I could help. We may not have a lot of money to give right now, but I can give of my time. I can give of my labor. In some capacity, I can give. I can always give.

Just as God has always done in my life when He is trying to teach me something, He uses every avenue possible to get His point across... this time he used a blog posted by a friend on facebook. It wasn't even her blog, but one posted by her friend who along w/ her husband, ministers to those trapped in prostitution in Bolivia. This is what Andrea wrote...

"A couple nights a week, we can expect a visit from our friend Martin, a homeless man who regularly stops by the house and asks for something to eat. Since we moved to La Paz, I'm further away from those with less and I'm honored to serve Martin a hot plate of food when he visits. Usually he prefers the fried chicken from across the street though.

So tonight, the doorbell rang at its usual time and I went to the door. As we've been pinching pennies ourselves these days, I had to explain, "I'm sorry, I don't have money to buy chicken tonight, but I do have some food if you'd like." Martin agreed and I went to prepare him a plate.

Martin has on occasion been a little agressive at times, so this evening as Andy was not home, I knew I needed to be careful. I handed him some dinner and carefully started to close the door. But Martin pushed and said, "I have bread." I kindly explained that we didn't need any bread and started to close the door again. But Martin insisted, "Pero tengo demas!" "But I have extra!"

So I paused and then graciously received his gift.

I came in the house a bit teary-eyed and told the boys what happened. "That's cool," one said, "Martin blessed us." My 5-year old said, "Martin learned to be helpful!"

I smiled. Actually, Martin taught us a lesson: when you have extra, you share."

Those last words hit home...

When you have extra, you share.

I realize how much I have in my Earthly home and how all of it will be dust eventually. I have so much more than others and absolutely want to give in whatever way the Lord asks of me... He has always taken care of us and even if I were to give away our last bit of "whatever" for His kingdom's glory, He will not let us go~ He will always provide!

Who/what is the "Martin" you need to give to, to help minister to them and have them minister to you as well?