Comments on: Christmas Generosity Project – Share Your Story!

By: The McDaniel Family

The McDaniel Family — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 03:14:46 +0000

Upon receiving the envelopes that Sunday, we knew immediately that we wanted to use the money to bless someone in “our” community (Bainbridge Island). After the service, we went to lunch and spent some time talking and praying about it. The decision was unanimous. There is a 9 year old boy at Logan and Grant’s Martial Arts academy here on the island. Saddly, his dad is dying of several “digestive” cancers. He is in his last days now and the mother has had to take a leave from her job as a school teacher to care for him. Logan and Grant both noticed that this boy didn’t have any of the required “gear”, as the cost of it all really adds up. Well, the Saturday before Christmas we were attending a promotion ceremony for the kids to get their new belts. We knew that Morgan would be there with his mom and his dad (the first time his dad would leave the house in several months), so we gave it to him there. He, as well as his parents were absolutely taken by surprise. They were so grateful. There’s definitely something to be said for God’s timing, as his mom had just ordered the equipment (for safety’s sake), but not knowing how she was going to pay for it! When it came, she put it under their Christmas tree and put the card that Logan had made on it! What a blessing, getting to share in this wonderful opportunity. I pray that this was the wind in everyone’s sails to spark a giving frenzy!!!!! Thank you, Pathways.

By: Barb

Barb — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 19:00:04 +0000

Here’s a follow up to my original post. Tonya talked to Sam yesterday and she had an incredible story to tell. The day after Tonya had given her their family’s money, Sam had gone to get supplies for Lesters medical needs. She was denied their medicare benefit for the supplies and was stressed about the situation. The amount she needed? EXACTLY the amount that Tonya had given her!! Then, the day BEFORE our check arrived , they received an unexpected bill and didn’t have any idea how they’d pay it. The next day, our check arrived in the mail. The amount of the check we sent was EXACTLY the amount that the bill was!!! Praise God, he is so good and he does provide for us. Needless to say, Sam and Lester have been so blessed and are so thankful to God and Pathways for providing for them in this difficult time. Kinda makes the hairs on your neck stand up doesn’t it? Sam said that prayers for Lester have really been helping too-he’s had a good couple of weeks over the holidays and she said that even though this was a very different Christmas than they’ve ever had, it was one of the best.

By: Boyce Family

Boyce Family — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 17:35:02 +0000

After church my husband and I put it out there to our five year old that we would like to get his thoughts about what to do with the money from the “Blessings Project”.
Earlier this year Logen made a Christmas wish list and one of the things he listed was to buy a gift for a little boy or girl. We had been saving money the month of December for Bethany Children Services. As we were ready to bring our savings to church it came to Logen that he wanted to add the money given to us by church to the money we saved for Bethany Children Services.
Thank you for giving us a chance to reach out to our community. With this Logen has learned a deeper meaning of helping others.

By: Dean

Dean — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 04:36:50 +0000

AWESOME STORIES! Keep them coming. Just reading these reminds me how simple and tangible it is to be the presence of Jesus in this world.

Our family has yet to use our money. I’m not sure if we are trying to be too perfectionistic in waiting for the “just right” situation, but we’re still praying about it as a family…and waiting. We’ll post when we complete it.

By: Tanya Kuest

Tanya Kuest — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 19:56:19 +0000

After prayer and thought an idea came to me which I presented to my daughter first. I wasn’t sure how she would respond. You see, when I was four months pregnant we found out she would be born with a heart defect. That is a whole story in itself, but we have spent a lot of time in hospitals and she doesn’t like us to talk about it.
She agreed with excitment. We pulled our money together along with some of our own, as well as Bob and Peggy joining in too. Andrea, Zachary and myself went shopping and bought a ton of gifts. On Christmas Eve, our whole family put on Santa hats and delivered gifts for the children that are spending their Christmas at Seattle’s Children’s Hospital. We bought things they could do while laying in bed and that would cheer them up. As we came into the volunteer office I started getting a bit teary eyed. We are thankful for the friends and family that brought love and joy to Andrea and we wanted to do the same for these children. Love, The David Kuest Family

By: Bob Kuest

Bob Kuest — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 01:56:26 +0000

Barb, We hope to post our project in the next day or so, after it is completed. However, last week we got the same response as Tonya when we told some non-Christian friends that our church gave us money to give away. It was beautiful to see their response and how it opened the door to further conversation. So the “Blessings Project” is not only opening doors for giving, it is opening doors for sharing God’s message.

By: Barb

Barb — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 23:43:23 +0000

Our home group combined our money and gave it to a co-worker of Tonya’s. Sam and her husband Lester have had a rough couple of years. Lester was diagnosed with terminal cancer and the billss have been mounting up. He’s not able to work at all and the stress of keeping things going has fallen to Sam. This year’s Christmas was not going to look the same for them as past ones have. We just felt that they needed to be blessed by Pathways! When Tonya gave Sam their family’s money and told her what it was about, she cried for 15 minutes. The Dentist they work for overheard and came out for clarification-”you mean your church GAVE you money back? You NEVER hear of that happening…” Anyway, the rest of our home groups money is on its way to them in time for Christmas and we
re so happy to be able to do it for them. We’ve been praying for them for over a year and it just seemd like such a natural fit. I feel so blessed to be part of a community that is doing this for others! As a P.S., I was going to post that we’d decided to donate our money to the Native American College fund at the Tulalip but I thought maybe that wasn’t a good idea!!! Ya, I know, I really CAN be naughty-don’t tell Santa. Have a blessed Christmas everyone.

By: Dianne

Dianne — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 10:17:08 +0000

Almost as soon as Dean told us we’d each be responsible for blessing someone with the money in our envelopes, two unexpected names popped into my head, though I must admit I initially tried to ignore the voice whispering them into my heart. At the clinic where I work I’ve been given the sometimes-daunting role of graciously interacting with our most “challenging” clients, which holds the very real potential for my becoming a “nail between the hammer and the board”. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened this year, with the two women whose names the Lord set in front of me as Dean spoke. I knew I was officially just the messenger for our owner, who I certainly supported, but for me every interaction with a client in that place is a divinely set appointment and an open window to love someone in Jesus’ name. So when these two professional relationships were left in tatters my heart was, too, and I’d been asking the Lord ever since how to reach out personally in a way they might be able to receive. With the $20 in my envelope I bought each woman a starbucks card and wrote a note explaining my heart to them, offering them the opportunity to contact and meet me for coffee (well, tea) if they wanted to talk or simply to enjoy a treat out on me if meeting made them uncomfortable. Today is Saturday and they should have received their notes in today’s mail. I have no idea what, if any, their respose might be but I’m asking the Lord to use this gesture to touch a tender spot in their hearts like only He can and to somehow redeem these fractured relationships for His glory. I’d be grateful for your prayers for them!

By: David West

David West — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 00:09:50 +0000

After much prayer, we pooled the funds to help some of the poorest areas in the world, through WorldVision. They have several projects on the ‘basic needs’ area of their webpage that you can give to, in Jesus name. There are needs for food, medicine, health care, water, sanitation,etc. You can also sponser individual children through this org, which is what they are more known for. One child every 6 seconds dies of hunger in Africa, which can be such a blank statistic in our mind, but is actually happening around the world, so thats why we chose this giving project. The Wests

By: Alex

Alex — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 02:15:47 +0000

After church on Sunday, I went out to lunch with the Martz’s. Had a nice lunch at Outback. The lunch became even nicer when Marissa Martz turned over multiple envelopes of cash pooled together from the “Money Tree” to our waitress. Marissa was nervous about how to preface the gift and explain that this is a blessing from God. But she went over to our waitress with support from her mom and sister (Greg, Jordan & Alex were very busy – watching football) and greatly surprised the waitress with what I might guess was her best tip in a long, long time if not her best tip ever. What I think took us all back is the waitress telling Marissa that she can now pay her phone bill – she did not know how she was going to pay it. That is pretty cool. And the waitress got to hear what happened at Pathways that day and she got reminded that God loves her. I did not know if Marissa or any of the other Martz’s would get on here so I thought I’d post it. God does get the credit here but I was very pleased with Marissa’s assist!