Be the One Who Gives

More blessed to give than to receive. // Acts 20:35

Holding expectations of people’s generosity toward me is something I did not know that I kept track of. At least not until, I was on a mission year, God made sure to pair me with a guy teammate who I felt annoyed by . . . a lot . . . for no reason except that he existed. Boy oh boy did I feel like everything he did was less than.

At the end of the year we were asked to have one last outing with each teammate. The last outing left unscheduled was with this guy teammate. I hadn’t heard anything from him, and I felt a stubbornness rise up in my heart. I thought, Heck to the nah, I am not about to reach out to him to initiate. He needs to learn to be more proactive and a true leader. I’m going to teach him. In other words, “He gonna learn.”

I waited and waited and nothing! As usual, God proposed I be not afraid of the hard thing. That meant reaching out to my teammate and scheduling an outing. I begrudgingly did. I put the least amount of effort and had planned for us to go to my favorite ice cream shop down the street. The day finally came, and we’re both peacefully licking our ice cream cones sitting on a bench next to one another talking about the simple things.

Weeks later as a final goodbye we were asked to write letters to each teammate. When I opened up my letter from my guy teammate, I could not hold back my tears when I saw that one of his favorite memories with me was the simple moment of sitting next to me having ice cream. I was shocked! I hadn’t even tried that hard.

Through that experience, I’ve learned what God means when He says that we are “more blessed to give than to receive.” My submission to humility in being the one to contact and make arrangements with my teammate resulted in my ability to then receive God’s love, which is what I longed for the entire year.

How can you be the one who gives today?

Be not afraid of the hard thing. // Kiki Rocha Click to tweet

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