WOW!! This cool moment was almost a year ago but I just found this in “drafts”, it was never published!!
When A Little Love For You is abbreviated to ALL4u it reminds me why this little ministry exists…all for you, Jesus!
Hearts…there is just something so darn appealing about them, right? Perhaps because God cares so much about our hearts and that they stay connected to His. God uses this phrase “take heart” in a number of places throughout his word. The phrase is translated a several different ways including; be encouraged, don’t quit, be strong, be courageous, take courage, be of good cheer and cheer up!! All of these words bring such strength and comfort. I have recently discovered just saying or thinking “take heart” in the midst of a difficult circumstance can lift my spirit, remind me that God is in control and help me take the next step, whatever that may be. I hope it does the same for you!!
Well…mobile the old fashioned way.
Thursday was like Christmas at my house! The supplies finally arrived from Jo-Ann’s for the ALL4U “to go” kits! Yes! Some wonderful and very encouraging ladies want to sew for A Little Love for You from home, on their own time! Isn’t that fantastic?!?!
My wonderful friend Andra Carpenter made “to go” labels for the kits so we know where they go, now they are filled with all the supplies needed
and ready for delivery!!
I am SO blessed by this ministry that God custom designed according to my heart and my skills and now that he has brought more people with the same heart and skills I just can’t quit smiling every time I think about it!! My prayer is that God will bless you in a similar way, because he has way more than just a little love for YOU!!
What better way to spend an afternoon than focusing on love – of the random act of kindness variety? Apparently 15 women and two little girls thought no better way, when they decided to spend part of their Saturday writing love letters for More Love Letters and sewing little pillows of love to be given to strangers they will probably never even meet!
40 letters and 38 pillows = 78 bits of love on the way!!
What makes a person want to spend their time in this way? I think it comes from the most beautiful (and speaking for myself, the tiniest) place in the human heart – unselfishness. Nothing in it for me. Just giving a little time to do something that’s easy for me to do.
But the thing is, you can’t out-give God.
You give a little time for someone else and he gives you a sense of joy and wholeness and purpose that just cannot be found in pursuit of the “me” things. Whaaat??? God’s economy is different. The world says “Look out for number one”, “If you don’t watch out for yourself, no one else will”. The world says “take”. God says “The last will be first”, “I will strengthen and protect you”. God says “Give and it will be given to you…in abundance!”. No wheeling or dealing required or permitted. You give, God out-gives you. It’s a weird cycle, isn’t it? You give; trying to be unselfish, not wanting anything for yourself and BAM – you get rewarded. Then, out of gratitude, you give more and you get rewarded more. You really cannot out-give God…but He sure makes it fun to try!
Until next time – 1Corinthians 16:14 – Do everything in love!
For a couple of weeks now I have been anxiously waiting to hear David Ring speak at my church this morning. Several months ago we saw an I Am Second video featuring David and his story. You would have to be a stone statue not to be touched! David was still born for 18 minutes. But as he said this morning, despite his challenges with Cerebral Palsy, God knew that in 59 years he would need David to be at our church this morning to deliver his message of hope. To quote David “It’s not over until God says it’s over! David told his story and taught us to tell ours in 3 little words “I am blessed”. We are blessed because God can take our biggest liability and use it as an asset for Him.
Just in case that was not enough inspiration, we found out that Nick Vujicic of Life Without Limbs was speaking at another local church this weekend. We saw Nick speak at our church a few years ago and it was a most unforgettable experience. Nick was born without arms or legs, yet he is one of the most joy-filled, functional and productive human beings on the planet. Nick delivered a similar message – God can use anyone when we fully surrender who we are and what we have to His use.
Both delivered direct challenges to serve God faithfully in small ways with whatever we have and to trust that, as we prove ourselves reliable, God will use us in bigger and bigger ways to impact our world for Him.
So, I will continue to be faithful making my little pillows and attaching unseen prayers that the people who receive them will come to know, either for the first time or in a deeper way, just how very, very much the God of the universe loves them. And that he is still in the business of miracles today. He changed David’s life, he changed Nick’s life, he changed mine and he can change yours, if you ask him to.
So, here I go…my first ever blog entry. I am not sure I have the words to express how blessed I feel as a result of God entrusting me with this little ministry and the fact that my wonderful daughter (Nicole) wants to do it with me! It started last fall, inspired by The World Needs More Love Letters, I began infusing the world with a little more love by leaving tiny heart “pillows” for people to find. I experimented with handwritten messages on the back in an effort to let the people who found them know that the pillow was not lost – it was intended for them. I also experimented with scriptures because I wanted to point people to God’s love. Finally, I settled on what I thought most everyone would welcome and relate to, regardless of their religious/spiritual beliefs or non-beliefs; “A little love for you” and the scripture from 1Corinthians 16:14, “Do everything in love”. Afterall, who can’t use a little more love???
Next, I made a commitment to leave a heart pillow for someone to find everyday in 2013 and thought I was all set. But, at Nicole’s urging, I took steps to set up a website so people could find an explanation behind the pillows they found. So, in January 2013, I bought the domain name www.alittleoveforyou.com. NOW I was all set…but then I started to think perhaps I should try directly handing the pillows to people who looked like they could use a little love. This was a little outside my comfort zone but the response I got was pretty addictive!! People just seemed to melt and give me the biggest smiles in return for the pillow! Ok, now I was just too excited to keep my little ministry a secret any longer and shared it with a few friends. One had the immediate response of “can I buy some?” I said no, but you can help me hand them out! That gave me the idea to try and increase production to put more hearts out in the world on the day of hearts – Valentine’s Day. I had seven volunteer Valentine “Elves”, including me, so I thought it would be great if I could supply each with 10 hearts…70!!! But I was going to need help!! To speed production, Nicole designed a printable back eliminating the handwritten step and I recruited some friends to help with the assembly. We put together 50 hearts in just a couple of hours and just as it looked like we would easily make our goal, God laid it on my heart to go for 100!! YIKES!!!! A few days before Valentine’s Day, one of my “Elves” – who also happens to be one of my Pastors – asked if she could have 25 more heats, in addition to the 10 designated for her. She was speaking to a MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group on February 13th on the subject of giving and wanted to give each of them a heart and a challenge to give it away. Guess that solved the mystery of my crazy new goal of 100! My wonderful sewing friends offered to assemble hearts from home and we made it!!!!!
The Monday before Valentine’s I finished up these cute felt hearts from the Purl bee as a thank you to my “Elves”, packaged up the hearts for everyone…and the rest is history.
Footnote – a little selfishly, I had been hoping for an email from someone ever since I set up the website. I know it’s not about me but I just wanted to know what kind of difference the hearts might be making. Well, Diana more than made my day when at about 10pm on Valentine’s Day she sent the first ever email to alittleloveforyou.com. Thanks to Nicole who upgraded the original website, you can see Diana’s email posted on the “Pillow Talk” tab. Thanks Diana!!! And thanks to everyone else who took a moment to send us a note. We treasure each one!
I’ve never really thought of myself as a “giver” but thanks to God and alittleloveforyou, that is changing a little. The more hearts I give away, the more I feel my own heart grow. Isn’t that just like God? You just can’t out-give Him!!!
So, now it is May…in March I stitched some hearts with kelly green thread for St Patrick’s Day but I only handed out one before I fell and broke my foot!! That put a halt to my own direct distribution but my “Elves” came to my rescue again and have been handing them out on my behalf. Now we are in full swing production again with a sewing party planned for this Saturday. I am hoping for another 50 to be completed – my “Elf” team is growing and asking for more hearts 🙂 Yay God!!!
Prayers and stories greatly appreciated!!!
Love,
Debby
Talking to strangers is something that is completely outside of my comfort zone. So when I agreed to help my mom deliver hearts on Valentine’s Day – I was planning on leaving them anonymously, none of this talking to people business. By 2:30pm I had yet to leave a single heart, so I headed over to Starbucks to handle my covert Valentine’s mission. I left a heart a shelf next to some pound coffee bags and proceeded to get in line. While waiting to place my order, I started thinking about giving one of them to the barista. Bravery mounting, I grabbed another heart and handed her the pillow after I paid. She was so appreciative and had a huge smile on her face. I felt a rush of joy, it was so fun to do something nice for a complete stranger.
After Starbucks, I headed to the drive-thru ATM to leave another heart. I decided I might as well get $20 while I was there. As I was driving out of the parking lot, I saw a struggling family sitting beneath a tree. The dad was holding a sign that said, “Lost job, no money for rent”. The mom was sitting on the grass with her two small children. I heard God whisper to me, “Give them a heart, and the $20.” I pulled over, rolled down the window and happily handed them over to the family. He looked me straight in the eye with a big smile and said, “God bless you.” Again, I had a complete feeling of selfless joy.
I loved being a part of sending 100 hearts into the world! Everyone deserves to feel love on Valentine’s Day, no matter their relationship status.
XOXO, Nicole
To see comments from recipients, check out our Pillow Talk page.
This Valentine’s Day, we have challenged ourselves to hand out 100 heart pillows. After countless hours of embroidery, an assembly party, navigating printing with freezer paper and lots of fabric fibers everywhere – we finally have them all done and ready to go out into the world.
We enlisted the help of some “Valentine Elves” to help us spread the love throughout the community. We are so excited to see what God is going to do through these little pillows of love and can’t wait to share the stories with you! Hope you know how much you are loved this Valentine’s Day!
Affectionately Yours,
The Little Love for You Team
P.S. Want to learn to print on fabric with freezer paper? Check out this awesome tutorial!
A little love for you 