Feel Good N' Serve Friday: Opportunities come to those who pray for them

So, I had two cool experiences this week with service.  I'd kinda started praying for service opportunities, even just little ones, to be placed in my path, and the Lord definitely blessed me with some. :)

#1: The homeless guy

So, a few weeks ago I was buying something at the dollar store and felt impressed to get out exactly $10 in cash back. I didn't know why, I thought maybe I'd need it for something in the future or something. I stuck it in my wallet and kind of forgot about it. Then one day this last week I was driving out of the Walmart parking lot and I saw this man, he looked really sad, and was standing there holding a hand-written cardboard sign that said "anything helps. God bless." It's a familiar scene. We pass people like this all the time. Usually, I'm wary about giving people cash, I tend to think giving food or something tangible is better.  But, for some reason, I saw this guy and immediately the thought popped into my head, "You have a $10 bill in your wallet you can give him."  And so, without even questioning it, I pulled out the ten and handed it through the window to the guy. He was so grateful.  As I drove away (this is my favorite part), my heart just suddenly felt really warm and full and I felt God's love really strong (something I'd been praying to feel more strongly lately) and I burst into tears. Guys, I just started crying and felt so happy. It was the weirdest thing. And I suddenly remembered how good it feels to serve.

#2: The classmate

Also this week, after one of my English classes one of my classmates asked me if I could help her out and edit this paper of hers that she was going to submit to a publisher later that day.  With the time crunch I was feeling kind of stressed about accepting, because that same day I had a lot of my own homework to do and work to go to.  But, I felt impressed that I should help her. And so I said, "of course!" and I did. I don't know if it was a big help in the end or what. But, again, I felt good after.  And nothing can really replace that feeling.

More often than not, I think Heavenly Father gives us opportunities to serve others not necessarily for that other person's blessing or benefit, but because he knows we need that opportunity to grow just a little more compassionate, just a little more humble, just a little more charitable.  He knows it'll change us for the better, and so He asks us to serve.  That's my theory anyway. Service is just a win-win-win-win-win.