God bless you

When telling a story I used to begin with the phrase “This one time...” This had to stop when years ago a popular teen movie came out in which one of the characters started every line she said with “This one time at band camp...” After the movie came out I had to stop beginning my stories that way because people would mimic the line from the movie and make fun of me. Lately, I feel like I constantly tell stories starting with “This one time in Lakeland...” Honestly though so many things happened to me in Lakeland or were revealed to me there that I am still sorting through things and processing it. This is one such story.

While I was attending all the church style meetings in Lakeland, Florida many different people both men and women would smile at me, walk by, sometimes come up and hug, and/ or wave at me and say, “Bless you, or God bless you.” Now this might not seem very remarkable but it really was, in fact -it was incredible! They were not just causally saying some trite phrase. They were actually asking the Lord to bless me.

They were asking the Lord right then and there to rain down His blessing on me and it was powerful. There were times when I physically felt it, I don't really know how to describe it but it was like a wave of something would hit me. They were speaking powerful and meaningful words. They were not just saying some generic phrase because I had sneezed, they were really asking God to bless me even though they didn't know me, hadn't asked me my name, didn't know my story or anything about me. They just smiled and kept on walking and probably kept on asking the Lord to bless somebody else in the crowd.

These encounters really stayed with me and I started doing it too. I started responding with a hearty and joyful, “God BLESS you TOO!” I began to really mean it deep in my heart. I can't help getting grandiose in my thinking and so I would start looking around saying, “Bless them all Lord, bless everybody here, bless all my family, please bless everybody in our church at home too, bless everybody in Columbia, bless everybody in all the churches in all of Columbia, bless everybody in all the churches everywhere, bless everybody I know, bless everybody I don't know, bless everybody I am going to know, bless everybody I want to know, bless everybody!!!! I just couldn't help it...I want God to bless everybody, why wouldn't I, right?

So this one time in Florida I kept begging the Lord to bless everybody in the whole world...and I decided that I need to keep doing that all the time. I hadn't really started putting this idea in to practice and with many things I have to talk about it to someone to really make it concrete. My parents made the journey to Lakeland and two days after my mom got back we went to Kansas City together to visit my older sister. As I was describing this phenomenon to her, she totally knew exactly what I was talking about and confirmed that it wasn't just me, I wasn't imagining it. Random strangers were also sincerely wishing blessings on my mother and she noticed it too. I wasn't completely hogging the blessing spout, which is a good thing. I decided I was going to start implementing it and not just in safe situations- like church.

An hour or so after talking with my mom I found myself picking up lunch for my sister and mother at a local eatery and as I was bumbling with drinks and food stuffs and trying to open the door, a women popped out of no where and held open the door for me. I really was so thankful and really did need the help and so, ever so sincerely looked her dead in the eye and said, “thank you so much, God bless you!” As always with the Lord, He is soooo cool. The moment was awesome. The women suddenly became much more alert but then really softened at the same time and it was kinda like an AHHHHhhh type moment where everything hushed around us. She looked back at me and really looked at me and slowly said, “Wow.....thanks...you too!”
I just danced out the door still juggling a million things but felt like I was walking on air. I burst in the house so excited to tell my Mom how special just saying three little words could be, when you say them and mean them.


A very nice gentlemen I randomly met the other day said it to me as he was saying goodbye and it was so awesome and set me on fire again to really embrace this. I have since called my mom now to tell her about other cool encounters where I said it to a grocery store clerk with great results and response.

Maybe I am telling you something you already know and constantly do. Maybe you were one of the people I am writing about in Lakeland. Maybe you aren't and or maybe you could use a little reminding that we ALL want to be BLESSED so why not ask the Lord for it. Why not ask GOD to BLESS everybody all the time, just remember to mean it. So this one time in Lakeland I asked God to bless everybody and I am doing it again. God bless you, today and everyday! God bless all the people reading this and all the people you love, all the people you love right now and have ever loved. God bless all the people you work with and share the road with and share anything with. Lord please let us share your blessings with everyone we encounter and everyone that even runs across our minds. Lord, please Bless them. Let us be a blessing to others and let us ask You to bless others as well. Thank you Lord for hearing our prayer.

*****I had a completely selfish reason for deciding to choose to write this email out of the ones I have in my mental queue right now. Please, please pray for me for blessing and everything else you can think of while I am away being a camp counselor this week for grades 4th -6th grade. I need all the help I can get. Thanks and God bless you again!**********
Heaven Helped me 6/23/08
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