Welcome to the First Coast Tea Party
A Deceptive Donation
Our First Coast Tea Party runs completely on donations, volunteers, and prayer. Each day when the mail arrives there is usually one or two envelopes containing donations from our members. This week we received a donation that, in my opinion, was the greatest of all.
The letter was addressed in large block letters on the front and on the back it stated “donations.”
I opened the letter expecting a monetary donation, but getting quite a different type of donation.
This wasn’t quite what I was expecting. However, this message is not unique, as we have been receiving both phone messages and emails with similar context recently. Some of the communications have been laced with foul language and hateful declarations. At times I find it challenging to keep my composure, focus, and diplomacy. This letter was one of those moments in time. I wanted to respond to this “Cheryl Campbell” with just as much, if not more, contempt.
I was angry and wished to “re-act” rather than “act” upon the circumstance.
I thought about her letter, read it several times, and could not remove myself from the feeling of “re-act” and respond to her. In wanting to respond to her, I spent some time trying to verify her address then her name only to find that neither the address nor name were valid. This made me even angrier as anonymous correspondence is an act of a coward and I hate dislike such individuals with a passion. My next plan was to post the images of the letter and denigrate the individual.
Saturday morning, I scanned the letter and uploaded it to my computer. I was now ready to begin the blog when my husband said, “Let’s go out for a jog it is a beautiful morning.” I really wanted to finish this, but something urged me to put it down and go. We got dressed, I grabbed my iPod, and we headed out.
I may have been outside doing something with my husband, but my mind was still on the blog trying to figure out the words I was going to use to deride the individual who wrote this letter. This is when I heard, from a podcast on my iPod, Charles Stanley say “Time is what your life is about, your life is your time, God’s given you a segment (. . .). What you and I do with it is very important, we either invest it wisely or we waste it. If time is my life and life is time, for me to waste time is a sin against God.”
I am an “infant” on my journey with the Lord and do not have significant knowledge of scripture, but when I slow down and listen he always gives me an answer. Reflecting on Mr. Stanley’s statement while I was jogging I realized my desire to re-act to this letter was not in line with God’s word. It was, however, indicative of me placing “my” satisfaction above all reason, not a good character trait. The individual who sent this letter is hurting, mislead, and in need of some compassion. Instead of wishing ill towards this individual, I pray that he or she may feel the Lord’s hand upon them and come to understand that God conveys comfort and wisdom to those who seek him and have faith.
This donation was a gift from God as it made me realize my decisions without God’s guidance contain neither wisdom nor knowledge, but contain selfish gratification. If Jesus could have such a strong faith to know his crucifixion was hours away and still pray and give comfort to others, I must surely be able to surrender my desire for earthly impulsive decisions to God.
This morning I asked God to tell me how to deal with this letter and opened my bible to this:
Daniel 2:20-23 “Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever, For wisdom and power belong to Him. And it is He who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men, And knowledge to men of understanding. It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things; He knows what is in the darkness, And the light dwells with Him. To Thee, O God of my fathers I give thanks and praise, For Thou hast given me wisdom and power; Even now Thou hast made known to me what we requested of Thee, For Thou hast made known to us the king’s matter.”
I needed an answer and God provided it. I want to thank the individual who wrote this letter to the First Coast Tea Party. You have given me yet another opportunity to build upon my relationship with the Lord. Your donation turned out to be a gift from God.
Thank you and God Bless you,
Debbie
Views: 966
Comment
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Comment by E. A. Temin on January 23, 2012 at 10:50pm
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Excellent message. I would like to add that God gave mankind the responsibility to be good stewards of His creation, but He also gave us power to subdue the earth and to use its resources. Unfortunately, radical environmentalists worship the creation instead of its Creator. Because many people no longer believe in God, they think humans are no better than an animal. It was sin that brought greed and selfishness to the world, and sin makes people misuse God's creation. Conservatives don't want to destroy the environment, but we want to use it for tbe good of all mankind. We recycle our plastic, cans and paper, and we try to take good care of our environment. We just don't go to extremes. I, too, feel sorry for the person who wrote this letter. We all need to be cognizant that children in government schools are being indoctrinated with the mindset that the writer has, i.e. man is bad, the earth is precious, so man must be controlled and regulated. Believe me when I say that the next generation will have been well indoctrinated to hate America and love socialism. It is our responsibility to "Train up a child the way he should go" so that "when he is old, he will not depart crom it."
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Comment by Holly Winsman on January 23, 2012 at 1:57pm
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Billie, why don't you post one a day so that we can pray for these poor misguided souls? They have lost God and everything that comes after.
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Comment by Susan Fromm on January 23, 2012 at 12:00pm
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Billy,
Your response is what GREAT leaders do!!!! They turn to HIM whom gives all answers!! God bless you!
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Comment by Suzanne Love on January 23, 2012 at 8:58am
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A gentle reminder to each of us....
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Comment by Fred Gottshalk on January 23, 2012 at 6:48am
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Senior Chief,
You, too, are one of those Americans that Homeland Security has warned us about!
MSGT USAF (RET)
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Comment by Joan Todd on January 23, 2012 at 5:50am
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What wisdom! When we stop and let God fill us, we make a wise choice.
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Isn't the Lord wonderful! He gets our attention and teaches us in these awkward and unpleasant
moments in our life. I am so thankful that you hear and receive from Him, for he is making you into a great leader. It is a blessing to read your blog. My donation will be on the way tomorrow.
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Amen sister and welcome to the family.
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Comment by H W Schroeder AXCS(AW) USNRET on January 22, 2012 at 5:46pm
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This letter reminds me of the mother who chose to put words in the mouth of her child to pose a question to one of the recent Republican candidates for president -- at least that is what I recall. I might be incorrect of the target for the question, however, the similarities are identical. Foolish and cowardly adults/parents who do not have the guts to ask the question(s) themselves. It continues to amaze me what liberals will do to create hate!
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Sounds like typical viewpoint of public schools system that no longer teach about AMERICA--don't have time for it with all the multi-culturalism, social justice ideology, feel good about others liberal pablum they feed kids. Immigrants now come to America expecting America to CHANGE to accomodate them, want their languages taught, their lifestyles and religion exalted over that of others and acceptance of this view is being taught in our schools while George Washington, Jefferson, Madison and the Constitution are no longer important. She sounds like a govt. dependent zombie waiting for the next handout from DC out of SOMEONE ELSE'S paycheck.
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Ponte Vedra, FL 32082
904-392-7475
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