My son, Kris, is back! I didn’t intend for him to return so quickly but it is of necessity that he is here as you will soon learn. I so wanted to re-blog his post today so he would get all of the traffic but it would not work for me again! I am not sure what I am doing wrong so please, please, PLEASE take the time to visit his blog, he is an amazingly funny, witty, compassionate and intelligent writer. You will be glad you stopped by! I am going to let you read this post first…then I will answer your questions at the end. Please stay tuned!

WARNING

The Giving Tree is one of the most well-known children’s books, ranking #14 in the “All-Time Best-selling Children’s Books” from Publishers Weekly. While I can’t necessarily remember the first time I read this book, or the first time it was read to me, I do know that I had a copy of it. It’s been roughly 17 years since I have seen that book, let alone re-read it. However, I can assure you that I completely remember the plot and the message of the story.

For those of you who are uneducated, get the book. I cannot provide a summary that does this book justice. (I have included a link that will take you to a free on-line version). With the desire to truly get my point across, I will do my best to capture the message in a summarized synopsis…

A little boy finds a tree and plays on this tree until he gets older. As the boy transforms into a man, the tree becomes sad because it is lonely. The teenager tells the tree that he needs money, so the tree gives him all of its apples in order for him to sell them. And the tree is happy.

Later he comes back, this time a man, and he needs wood to heat his home. The tree then allows the man to cut down all of his branches. And the tree is happy. The man returns again, this time older and wants to build a boat, so the tree allows the man to cut the trunk, just leaving a stump. And the tree is happy. At the end, the elderly man returns, this time needing a place to rest, as he is old and tired. The tree has nothing left to give but just its stump. So the man sits. And the tree is happy.

You’d have to be crazy not to see the common theme. Shoot, even Helen Keller would see this a thousand miles away. The tree was sad when it wasn’t adding something back to someone else’s life. The tree was happy through its giving. Crazy logic, eh? In a society that is often plagued with “me, me, me”, there are those around us who are always looking for opportunities to give something back. People often look to individuals such as Bill Gates, Mother Teresa, Bono and Princess Diana, just to name a few.

But there are those around us, many that we know personally, who often go unnoticed and unrecognized. These individuals pour much of their lives into our own, crafting us into the adults that we are today. Without their influence, who knows where we might have ended up?! Countless hours of investing, while never expecting anything in return. Whether it was to offer an encouraging word, a smile, a simple prayer, friendship, or even some cash to help us get through a difficult financial time.

I have one in particular. I cannot express the amount of influence that these two individuals have had in my life but today I focus on only one. My Mother. My Giving Tree. I grew up in a fantastic home, not a care in the world. I had an incredibly family, two brothers that were an absolute pain, friends and over a thousand different sets of parents to help keep me in line (let me note that there were probably additional parents that could have been used).

Honestly, I don’t know what it is like to be a “normal” family. My childhood was spent either at church or with families from our church about 5+ nights a week. It was incredible. My parents were over the high school ministries throughout the majority of my childhood and I always had about 20 different brothers and sisters. Activities centered around the church congregation or local community were always present, whether raising money for the USA-based missions or foreign, or to help out a family in need. I learned at a young age that this life is not really mine to give… it’s already been spoken for.

Growing up, I often took for granted how many times people would walk up and tell me “how lucky I was to have such great parents like that”. I often didn’t realize that fact until I got much older and discovered how special they really were. Time and time again I watched both my mother and father make sacrifices to help someone a little less fortunate than themselves. Often I was skeptical, but time and time again I was able to see the blessings that their actions reaped.

This blog has an ulterior motive. Earlier I compared The Giving Tree to my mother, giving and giving until it was almost impossible to give any longer. At this moment, giving is somewhat hard to come by. My mother’s sacroiliac joint (sort of where your hip bones meet) is disintegrating. For almost two years I have watched her walk gingerly, rely on a cane, injections, pain medication, and even a walker…

However, even with the debilitating disease, she has found a way to give. She recently created a blog entitled Hope In The Healing, which is really quite good, and this is coming from one of her more harsher critics. In this blog page she often writes words of encouragement to those going through difficult situations, specifically those dealing with chronic pain in addition to writings about her husband, their passion for church-focused ministry and the adventures of her three boys (mainly me).

Many of us, myself included, wouldn’t be giving anything to anyone if we found it difficult to climb a set of stairs or even walk to the bathroom. Shoot, I’d probably be one of the most miserable human beings on the planet and my sole focus would be to make everyone else just as miserable as I was. BUT, that is not my mom. She found a way to continue to give in a way that her body would allow her.

She found a way to give back. Now it is our turn. What good is a fantastic blog without a call to action? A few weeks ago, one of Nannette’s readers (some know her by the name Candace Jo) felt impressed to open a FundRazr to help pay for her surgery to repair both of her sacroiliac joints. This procedure would literally be impossible to obtain without your giving.

All I ask is this. Follow this link “What You Can Do With $2” and just watch the video. If you feel impressed to donate just $2, I would greatly appreciate it. If you want, share the link with your friends through Facebook, Twitter or other social media outlets. Just like The Giving Tree, it is time for us to give back. Our giving will enable her to get back to doing what she loves most…Giving.

 The following is my explanation of the details surrounding the disease, fundraiser and who is Carol Brown?

I did not know Kristopher was going to write this post until I saw it on Facebook. But after thinking about it last night I thought maybe I should come forward and explain a little about the fundraiser and the issues I struggle with. I have degenerative SI joint disease. My sacroiliac joints, both sides, are deteriorating and the pain is excruciating, to say the least. I have bone rubbing bone. It has gotten so bad it is one of the reasons we came home from Latvia, seeking surgery a year ago April. I actually need two surgeries, each side at separate times, six months apart. Unfortunately, our insurance will not pay for it, citing pre-existing conditions. They have told us Obamacare is not going to make any difference for me either. We have independent insurance as we are ministers, self employed.

Now for the explanations…my lovely friend Carol Brown, of Scripturesquegraphics, approached me a couple of months ago with the burden to do something so amazingly wonderful for me I was blown away. We have never met face to face! She lives several hundred miles away and does all of my images and graphics for my blog…for free…did I say she is amazing? Anyway, she said the Lord had impressed her to do this fundraiser for me to help raise money for my surgery. Oh I was so torn!! Yet I was so moved that anyone would care that much for me!!

I prayed and prayed about it and cried and prayed some more, I felt like I had pride in my heart concerning the whole thing. It’s not easy to be on the “needy side”. It’s a whole lot easier to be the Giver than the Receiver! When it comes your turn to have to receive, it’s a whole different ballgame, friend. So one morning it was as if the Lord had spoken to me, if it had been audible it wouldn’t have been any more clear…and He said, “This isn’t about YOU, this is about ME, let it go…” and so, slowly…I did.

Carol called and said her adorable video was finished, didn’t she make me cute, and thankfully, skinny?! I cried and cried when I saw it and I knew then that God was going to do something…that was NOT about ME. I didn’t know what! But He was in it because He had spoken to someone I hadn’t even MET in person to love me enough to do something of this magnitude, there must be something more to it than money. God is like that, you know!

So several have emailed me asking where the money is going, it goes directly in a Paypal account in mine and my husband’s names. Many of the FAQ’s are answered right on the video…Carol thought of everything! If we do not raise enough money for the surgery the money goes towards injections. They aren’t “shots”, these babies are serious image-guided injections and cost thousands of dollars, my insurance does not pay for these either.

You know sometimes, we have to get out of God’s way so He can work. I do not understand all of this. I am not asking anyone to give. I am very uncomfortable with it. I know some do not agree with this, please, if you think this is silly, weird, out-of-order, embarrassing, or whatever it is that makes you uncomfortable with it, please do not worry about giving! I don’t want ANYONE to feel OBLIGATED to give. That would make me so sad, and that money would be forced money that wasn’t given in love. There is no pressure here.

And the goal truly is for no one to give alot, but for many to give a little. I hope this helps answer questions. I am humbled by the generosity of so many. I no longer am embarrassed, I am grateful. We just want to be able to continue to minister and share Revival By Design either here in the States or overseas, wherever God says, “Go!” I would like to not have to do it from a wheelchair if possible and the Lord sees fit to answer that prayer. If not, He knows best! 

The Apostle Paul said, “I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.  I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:11-12 NIV

Thank you to all who have given thus far. May God richly bless you. I appreciate it more than you know!

And may all of you be blessed for enduring this extremely long and “wordy” post!

Nannette, a.k.a. Candace Jo

Sharing with Walking Redeemed, homemaking party, Hearts at Home, Time Travel Thursday, Proverbs 31 Thursday, Thriving Thursday, Thankful Thursday, Grace at Home,Thrive at Home Thursday

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