Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there; behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide food for you.” So he arose and went to Zarephath, and when he came to the entrance of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks; and he called to her and said, “Please get me a little water in a cup, so that I may drink.”
1 Kings 17:8‭-‬10 NASB2020

Christmas is a difficult time to be unemployed. Anytime of year is hard, but Christmas time with children is especially hard.

I began looking around the kitchen to see what I could bake for gifts. Our church had started a food pantry and gave us 10 lbs of flour and a large bag of oatmeal. I remember thinking at the time, how about some milk and eggs to go with it? Because I can’t feed my children with this.

Our neighbors had chickens and gave me several dozen eggs. I found some shortening I didn’t remember buying and began making cookies. I got some crayons and colored some lunch bags with Christmas trees. Before long, I had dozens of bags of cookies to give to neighbors, friends, and teachers.

Our landlords owned a company that usually drew names and exchanged gifts. This year, they unanimously voted to pool their money and buy groceries for the Gregory’s. I’ll never forget when the car backed up to our porch and bag after bag was unloaded onto our kitchen table.

A week later, the local Methodist church, which we didn’t even attend, dropped off wrapped Christmas gifts for our family. Someone else brought us a Christmas tree and helped set it up in our living room. We often comment that it was the best Christmas ever.

This is kinda fun remembering all the blessings. Hopefully, you’re remembering too. Write them down so you don’t forget and read them to your children and grandchildren. Keep the blessings alive and make new ones by doing them for others.

Sandy G