You write me and share your stories. You leave them on Instagram. You don’t hesitate to call and tell me all about it. This is a 2-part post because your stories are incredibly normal, yet God-planned, and are current! I didn’t dig up old stories for this…no way! You are actively and in real time living and breathing the Holy Spirit right where you live!

“At year’s end no one compiles a list of the ten best-lived lives. Something very different takes place in the life of faith: each person discovers all the elements of a unique and original adventure….The Bible makes it clear that every time there is a story of faith, it is completely original. God’s creative genius is endless.” - Eugene Peterson, Run With The Horses

A new way to pray

Do you remember Jen praying for her neighbor to experience Jesus in her dreams for 3 years and then experiencing a breakthrough? Her miraculous story is here! One of you reached out to me because you had grown tired from praying for your mother-in-law, who practices a different religion, that leaves her empty and lonely. You’ve prayed the same prayers for years - that God would put someone in her life who she respects and she would believe in the One God who loves her and made her and has a plan for her life. Jen’s story excited you to pray expectantly for her meditation time.

All of this because Jen prayed for her neighbor and shared her story and Ashley read her story here and is praying in a new way!

Father God, You know every language, people, religion, and heart. You have the best way to get our attention since You made us and formed us after Your image. We ask You to speak to the heart and into the dreams of Ashley’s mother-in-law. But we want to pray bolder prayers. We pray over Jen’s neighbor and those who live around us. Those who teach our kids and those who lead our cities and states and countries. Come to us in our thoughts, our dreams, and in ways that only You know how. In Jesus’ Name, we pray. Amen.

But it’s scary

Chelsea and Rob and their three little kids really want to live sent in Colorado. They want to love their neighbors, but it’s scary. They loved the idea of sharing notecards and a treat with their neighbors, but the idea of putting their address and names down meant they’d know where they live! They decided to just put their last names and address only. They bagged Hershey kisses and the kids decorated the bags with stickers. 

“These chocolates represent love and if they got stolen or thrown away, it wasn’t a huge expense,” Chelsea told me. “We literally put them on fences so we didn't have to come too close because of the coronavirus and the occasional dogs!”

Chelsea and I know each other from their time in San Francisco. 

“You really thought through it as a mom, newcomer, and everything that could do wrong.” Chelsea gave me a quick reply, “Especially when it's your home and your kids. Living in the city, we could care and then go into our building and they would not know exactly where we lived. Now people know where we live.”

Chelsea knew they wanted to show love and meet some neighbors despite the risks. She’s blown away at the responses! Someone thought it was a package to come back to us! (not many English speakers on our street) People returned the love in the form of stuffed animals and Christmas cards in other languages. 

“All we did was give them a few handfuls of Hershey kisses,” Chelsea laughed. “Put a little bit of love and it goes a long way. We weren’t expecting gifts back but that’s how they received it.” 

Now the kids are painting Kindness Rocks and setting them outside their home for anyone to take. Still low risk, but with more confidence than before. This family is being known by knowing others on their street. 

When you’re the ones receiving

You might remember the Takemoto family from Love Where You Live book or may know them personally. They recently moved away from San Francisco and it was so sad to say goodbye. But if we believe that place matters and God is sending and connecting His people, then this story will energize you! 

So, our neighbors, the Perlick’s knocked on our door on Christmas Eve (as we were tuning into Epic’s Christmas Eve service) and welcomed us to the neighborhood with cookies and their phone numbers. They shared that they moved into the neighborhood just a year ago and wanted to welcome us too. It was a huge blessing! Since I shared the story with you, we met again last Thursday. Someone else’s Imperfect Foods box was delivered to our house by mistake. The company told us to keep it. Since we had our own order, we took it over to the Perlick’s and spent a few more minutes chatting. Had they not stopped by on Christmas Eve, we wouldn’t have been able to share the produce box. It makes me smile to know our neighbors! Scott and I are looking forward to the day we can have them over for a backyard barbecue.

Don’t believe that a pandemic or a virus can stop us from loving and caring for our neighbors!