30-Day Giving Challenge: What I Learned

As I've said before, this challenge was...challenging. And I must be honest - we did not give every single day. I think we gave approximately 15 days, which on one hand is pitiful, but on the other it's pretty good compared to what and how we gave in October.

My biggest problem was driving the hour-long one way trip to the nearest homeless shelter in one of the scarier parts of town. (I keep thinking there's got to be one closer, but have yet to find it) Those boxes are still sitting in the hallway. I didn't have a problem donating things from our closets or the stockpile. And surprisingly, money was easier to donate than I'd expected it to be. But time, oh the time that it would have taken to drive somewhere in order for us to donate something - well, that's where I fell short.

Then there were certain opportunities to give that I just couldn't bring myself to do - not that they were too much, but rather I wanted our money/things/resources to do the most good - and some were just giving to give, not to really help someone or to change a life.

But, I did learn some things from this challenge: 1) Say yes to charity, even at times when you don't want to, 2) Ask the Lord to open your eyes to opportunity and He will, 3) Charity isn't just money or things and those in need aren't necessarily poor.