Recently our church walked through a series called The Blessing. In the final weeks of this series, our pastors asked, “How are you a blessing to those around you?”
For the first two years of our marriage, we lived in a small house in upstate New York. Our little rental home was perfect for the two of us, but with all of our family living in other states or countries, I wanted to be able to host them for weekends and holidays. I loved having friends over. However, with such a small space, our options were limited. Our parents’ love was obvious when they visited and slept on our couch and an air mattress in the living room. After renting for several years and relocating to Colorado, we began searching for a home to purchase.
During our home search I prayed,
Lord, if you give us more room than we need, let us use it to be a blessing to others.”
We purchased a beautiful three-story house with plenty of extra room. In our first two and a half weeks, my husband and I had our house to ourselves for three days only. It was a whirlwind of family and friends. While I still feel like I’m trying to catch my breath, my heart is bursting with joy. I have seen our friends and family sitting on the back patio enjoying our mountain views. Our friend, Jen, even elected to sleep under the stars on our new back porch.
I dream of hosting my husband’s or my entire family for Thanksgiving or Christmas. I can already see my brother-in-law cracking jokes in our backyard while my nieces and nephews play hide-and-seek all over the house.
You are blessed to be a blessing.
I know that this spacious house has bountifully blessed us. Although the perfectionist in me would like the guests to wait until we have furniture in every room, I know that these details are unimportant. It would be nice to have a complete bedroom set in the guest bedroom, but I know that a mattress and a bedspring on the floor work for now. We will have to wait for a sectional couch for our family room and an entertainment center for our TV rather than an old desk. As much as I would like all of these things to be done and our house to be completely settled, I remember my prayer to God and realize that it is more important to use what we’ve been given to pour into others. I’m so grateful that we have already been able to use our house to be a blessing.
