the more good I did, the more doors God opened for me.

Sometimes I think I knew more at eighteen then at any other point of my life.
When I started leaning on God, I suddenly knew exactly who I was and what I wanted out of life.

When i turned to God, I didn't care that I didn't have a boyfriend in life like I was so fixated on before. My relationship with God, my children, my family and friends made my life so full. Within a few months of me not seeking, I met a great guy who became a life long friend right there in the parking lot of the complex. Within a year of that I met my husband.

God had shown me my purpose finally. Once word got out that I took in children, there wasn't a day that my house wasn't full with little feet running around, I wasn't bouncing babies off my hip or rocking little ones in the rocker. Parents from our playgroups who knew what kind of mother I was and am, brought me their children, and parents in our complex knocked at my door asking if I could possibly take a few more.

I didn't have time to be lonely and I knew in my heart that God was making this possible. These moms needed a safe place for their children to be, and I gave them that. I ran everything like a daycare. We had outside time, arts and crafts time, singing and dancing time. My children photograph albums are filled with the happy memories of growing up with our house filled with many children and love and happiness.

Many mothers became life long friends, some of the children I cared for are parents themselves now. A small few of these children came from really bad situations and really thrived in the time I had the opportunity to care for them. A small number of them got lost in the foster care system and were adopted out. A lot of them I have the blessing of still talking to, even if only on face book level. Most are still friends with my children.

If I knew a parent couldn't pay, I took their children anyway with a promise of being able to call on them for a favor. I am trying as I write this to come up with an approximate number of the children God allowed me to be there for , I want to say its somewhere near fifty, if not more in a period of five years. They each have a special place in my hearts as their families do too.

I learned fast that the more good I did with my life, the more doors God opened for me. I started doing good deeds every chance I got. I don't want to list all my good deeds because it makes me seem like I am trying to run for saintly hood, of which I am not. As you will later read, I fell off track a number of times in my life. But I want people to realise, that when you do good, good really comes back. When my children or I outgrew our clothes, I bagged them up and put them on the doorstep of people I knew might want them. When I learned some lost their job or was having a hard time, I would clean my pantry and leave a box of what food I could. For every bag of clothes I gave, three more came my way. For every box of food, God filled my cabinets. We no longer struggled a single day somehow, and the how was God.

I see on TV, when I watch the religious channels, the preachers talk a lot about sowing seeds "send a thousand dollars to us and God with bless you with then thousand" That type of thing. I don't know if that really works but I do know, that when you give of yourself, from your heart and truly make everyday a day God will be proud of, when you show kindness to others just because... God really does reach down and return the favor. My life is a testimony to that. Because when I have done good, good has come back..when I stopped.. I lost all I lost all I gained.