Hands and Feet of Jesus - SERVE Update

It is that time once again!  Time for us to share our serve experiences from the past month.

Debi, This past month I stepped outside my comfort zone and served as Jesus did.  In John 13 it talks about Jesus, the King of Kings, washing the disciples feet.  Jesus came to serve not to be served.  One Wednesday night at church, I washed the feet of my church family and prayed over each of them.  It was a beautiful time.  In return, and unexpected, they washed my feet and prayed over my husband and I.  We need to serve as Jesus did and sometimes that means getting down and dirty and out of our box.

Mandy, A few weeks ago my husband saw a lady on the side of a street in our town holding a sign that said "will work for food or diapers". Without even hesitating I whipped our van around and sped back to that woman. You see the weekend before this I had put a box of food in our van for a lady we serve through our food pantry. We hadn't yet delivered it AND we had some money in our van we hadn't yet given to the place it went to...both of these things were huge neon flashing lights in my head that God wanted us to turn around and serve that woman. We not only gave her money and food but I was able to pray for her and tell her that GOD was the one that wanted me to stop and give her the gifts. She was deeply touched and I couldn't wait to tell everyone what God had done for this lady...when I finally did tell some of my family members they instantly shot me down saying that that woman had been begging on the street for a month and then the previous month had been begging across the bridge in a different town...I instantly felt shame and regret..that I had been used and that God was mad at me and how could I have been so stupid, but then I began to think after talking to a friend...maybe God wanted me to do this to see that I would be faithful to Him in serving no matter what...perhaps He wasn't mad because of this thing I did...maybe He and all the other witnesses in heaven were cheering for me....I pray this is the case. My point is ladies...serve. Serve when it hurts, serve when it's comfortable and serve even when someone says you shouldn't that you'll just be used. Serve...because God told you to and because God is on your side no matter what.

Shari, I love serving others, it makes me so happy when I can help someone. This month has been about serving my mother. My mother was diagnosed with dementia last fall. It's a terrible thing to watch someone go through. These past few weeks, I have been learning to look beyond my own needs and wants as I focus my attention on my mom and what she needs. Some of the ways I have served her, she doesn't even realize, but they are things that needed to be done. Such as looking for a new home for her, where they can properly take care of her and her situation. 

A lot of times serving puts us in difficult situations, situations that stretch us and cause us to grow. But, when we are obedient to God's leading our acts of service bring great rewards, to us and the ones were serving. It's all about dying to self, moving forward, and taking up the cross of Jesus so others cans see who He really is. 

Jenifer, March brought many opportunities for me to serve others.  I was able to pay for someone in the drive thru behind me, picked up groceries for a friend who was sick and unable to go to the store, bought a few groceries for someone and served my church's community through a couple of outreaches.  Serving always feels good.  I never leave from serving someone and feel like I wasted time.  It is such a blessing to bless someone else. While I love to serve and never regret it, I have to admit that there are times that I grumble going into it.  That is something I am working on.  I was also served in March.  For me, accepting someone's help can be hard.  Not at all that I am independent but that I always feel like I don't deserve it or that I should be serving instead.  So allowing someone to serve me is a learning experience for me.

How have you done this past month with being the hands and feet of Jesus and serving others?  Comment below and share your own experiences.

Link up time!  On the first Sunday of each month we will come together here at Woman to Woman and talk about our word, serve, and how we have committed to serving throughout the previous month. Our prayer is that you join with us on this journey.  Throughout the month, in your own life, we encourage you to serve, then come here and tell us how you have done.  We greatly encourage you to comment on the posts telling us how you are doing, your struggles, your successes, and your thoughts.  If you are a blogger, we encourage you to also write a post about serving and link up with us.{The link up will only be for blog posts about serving.}

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