We are Blessed to be a Blessing

Written by Helen Yi            
​
          There is truly nothing greater than seeing people who have been deeply blessed be a blessing to those around them. It paints an intensely beautiful picture.
As I work, I sit facing the main entrance to interact with customers who come in, greet people who come to meet with Herb, grab packages and mail as the postal workers walk in, and to lend a helping hand to those who seem a little lost. Some of my favorite interactions with the people who walk through the doors is when I see the love of Christ being exemplified. This month I was able to experience that because of the people who partner with the Café in ministry.
            We have been collecting winter coats since the beginning of this month because the weather in Pennsylvania is brutally cold. This past week, I was sitting working and it was earlier in the day and I saw a gentleman walk in with a large box. I was unfamiliar with the person and could not see what the box contained. Angel and I were both watching as he approached the back of the Café, and she greeted him, and he told her he had winter coats! She knew his name and thanked him, and he said to let him know if we needed more and walked out. I immediately stood up and looked in the box and was taken aback. The box contained a bunch of puffy, colorful jackets all brand new with their original tags.
          I looked back at the rack of existing coat donations and was deeply moved. The coat rack has been well visited by many people, but the rack is never empty. It gets replenished with coats almost instantly. So many people have been blessed by this rack and it is all thanks to people like you. The people who have donated coats will probably never know or see where their donations went or to whom received the coats, but the point is that they gave freely. They gave freely because they were freely given grace from the Father.
          We are able to bless others because we know that God has truly blessed us. We were given grace when we deserved death. We were given grace when we chose sin over God’s love. We were given grace and because we were given grace, we can also give grace to the people we serve. We love because He first loved us.