April Giving - Causing the Widow's Heart To Sing For Joy

Because of your generous coupon donations, we were able to donate over $270.00 worth of product to the widows and single moms pantry in the month of April!  Thank you so much for your giving.  A special shout out to Betty..thanks for all the paper goods!

Job 29:13 says, The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me: and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.

True Religion will be hosting a widow's luncheon at Family Harvest Church on June 5, and we will be distributing the goods then.  There is still time to donate either coupons or items...(no food items please).  If you have any questions, contact Kim @ (708)639-5504.

A Miracle Trip To Disney World

Single moms often don't get to go on vacation.  I know that in the natural, a full blown vacation was an absolute impossibility for me.

My son was about 4 at the time, and in his prayers each night, he began to ask God for a Disney World vacation.  Thank goodness I didn't squelch his faith, or tell him that he shouldn't be asking for such things, but I quietly pleaded with God to answer his prayer.  It wasn't so much that I wanted to go to Disney World, as it was that I wanted my son to experience a personal God and Father, who cared about not only his needs, but also his dreams as well.

A few months after his first prayer, a couple from church approached me.  They said, "We hear that your son has been asking God for a Disney World vacation."  I still don't know how they found that out, but I told them that it was true.  "We'd like to help you make that happen," they said.  My walk of faith began then.  I was too shy to ask them what they meant exactly by that offer.  They ended up generously paying for Amtrack tickets and our hotel.  Now I needed to trust God for the hopper passes and food, which of course, God supplied as well.

I'll never forget what it felt like to be on a vacation planned by God, for the heart's cry of a little boy.  Tears welled up in my eyes more than a few times, and I felt I needed to pinch myself to make sure I was really there.  If there was ever any question of the goodness of God and His passion to give us the desire of our hearts, it was arrested then.To this day, whether my son has to purchase a high dollar item, or pay for college, I remind him of his trip to Disney World.  It is a point of contact for the two of us to remember for always...Wow!  God is good.

Thanks Coupon Donors!

Yipee!  Thanks to all of you who brought your coupons in.  We were able to purchase $91.10 worth of free items to fill our pantry!  If you're interested in helping me shop, leave a comment.  Or if you are from out of town, you can check out my facebook page to see the awesome deals we will be able to do this next week.  You can donate your goods to your favorite local pantry.  This is a particularly BIG week.  Yay!

Weekly and Daily Deals 4/10/11

Rather than reinvent the wheel, I am going to send anyone wanting a shopping list for the widows and single moms ministry, True Religion  to my facebook page for any deals and listings each week.  This blog, The Proverbial Shopper will be used solely for articles regarding upcoming events, inspirational stories and progress on our $2500 yearly goal for our Widows and Single Moms Pantry.  You may help in two ways...1) If you are a Family Harvest Church member, you can bring your unused coupons to church with you....2) Use your coupons to purchase the deals highlighted on my facebook page to help stock our pantry!

Thanks Hip2Save for all your hard work!

God Gives Seed To The Sower

So, my church, Family Harvest Church had us read a book, 40 Days To Greater Generosity, during lent.  I really thought I'd heard everything there is to hear about giving and began out of pure obedience.  Hey, I'm just being honest here!  Boy was I wrong!  First of all, I never felt as though I was much of a giver because I am constantly looking at what don't have to give rather than what I do have.  I was delighted to find that I give much more than I thought I did, and yet made me hungry to give more.  To say the least, the book got me thinking.  In fact, God had already been dealing with me about many things in the book, because as you know I changed the focus on this blog toward finding ways to give to the widow and single mom.
Not only does the daily devotional remind the reader of scriptural principles in giving, but it combines this with practical ways to look outside the box for ways to be more generous....And not just with money.
Anyway, I thought I'd let you know that thanks to Linda Thompson and generous people at FHC giving their coupons, (and a few of you donated items as well) I was able to donate over $58.00 worth of product to the pantry this week alone!  The more coupons we bring in, the more we can do! This cost me absolutely nothing but time and effort!  At this rate, (and providing we receive more coupons, we could easily increase) together we could give over $2500 in a year!  Not bad for just bringing in the coupon section that you may already just throw away!
I said all of this to say, that I was looking for ways to be generous without having to spend a dime, because that's just where we're at financially.  But God truly does provide seed for the sower.  Ask God, He will give you creative ideas to give from what you do have.  Stop fretting over what you don't have.  God does give seed to the sower!
If you're interested in helping me, just bring your coupons or non perishable items to Family Harvest Church this Sunday.  (It's best if the coupons are still together in their jackets, it's very difficult to use loose already cut coupons because of our current filing system.)

**Plus a special shout out to Colin at Hip2Save.com for doing all the leg work with all those great deals!

My Life As A Single Mom

I was 29 years old when I found myself divorced and raising my then 3-year old son.  My ex-husband was not around and I was on my own for the first time in my life.  Having gone straight from my parent's home to being married, the only work experience I had was working in church offices.  Wonderful and satisfying work, but a little low on the pay scale.  In an effort to help, my church hired me, working around the hours I needed in order to take care of my son.

I tried my best not to depend on others for our daily needs.  I hated it that my parents had to help out with my rent, and even then, I still had to scrounge the car floor for change in order to buy a gallon of milk.  My basic diet was cereal and ramen noodles.  I remember once a friend felt "led" to take me grocery shopping.  She told me to fill my cart with whatever I wanted.  It was so humbling.  I didn't want to take advantage of her kindness, but I also knew that we needed meat and produce very badly. 

Another thing prominent in my memory was the time my gas had been shut off.  I lived in a little trailer at the time, and my heat, water heater and stove were all gas.  It was no problem about the heat, because it was summer.  But I still recall the days that I had to take cold showers, or warm up huge bowls of water in the microwave to add to my son's bath water.  One day, a friend came over around dinner time and saw that I was having difficulty lighting my charcoal grill.  (I didn't have any more matches.)  He said to me, "Why don't you just go inside and light something on fire at the stove?"  Well...my secret was out.  And...of course the problem was quickly and quietly solved.

My parents and my church family were wonderfully used by the Lord during that time and come to think of it any other time in my life.  I felt so ashamed.  Ashamed to be a Christian who was getting a divorce.  Ashamed to be a 29 year old woman not able to take care of herself.  Ashamed that my life seemed to be taking such an unexpected turn.  After all, where was my faith??  Little did I know that other people looking at my life admiring my faith. Maybe not the people who didn't know me well, and gossiped behind my back, but everyone whom I truly respected and loved, they were all rooting for me with words and actions.

So, if you find yourself in this difficult situation, I know how it feels.  But I also know that God is faithful.  He will take care of you in ways you never expected.

For those of you who don't find yourself abandoned by the one you loved, maybe this blog will help you to be a little more compassionate.  Single moms need all the help they can get; financially, spiritually and sometimes they just need a friend to talk to.  I challenge you to find a single mom and her children to "adopt."  Slip them a little something extra at Christmas.  Give them a gas card.  Babysit for free for them.  If you live in the Southern Chicago suburbs, consider giving to our non-perishable single mom pantry.  With finances being as difficult as they are you may want to just donate your coupons.  You have no idea how desperate and alone a single mother can feel, and you have no idea how much even the simplest of gifts can mean...

Pure Religion

So...it's been since Christmas since I've talked to all of you.  I hope all is well with you and yours.

I'm writing to let you know that I've started a new charitable endeavor in my church.  It's seems that many of us "couponers"  end up with items we have no need of.  Maybe we got it for free, or even made money on it!  But alas, I have no need of 3 packages of incontinence products...at least not yet ;).   Donate your excess products.  It's a way to give in a tough economy, when you may not have as much cash to contribute as you have in the past.  If you come to Family Harvest Church in Tinley Park, you can bring your items to church and we will give them to the single moms and widows! 

If you don't coupon, there's still a way you can help.  You can bring your coupons from the Sunday papers to church.  This way we can purchase things in bulk.  If you're interested in helping me with the weekly shopping, please let me know.

It's important to find ways to give no matter what your circumstances.  People are hurting financially more than they have in quite some time, and perhaps a thoughtful bag of goodies is just what they need to brighten their day.  The only thing it will cost you is some time. 

If you have any questions, please comment below.