For the record, Debbie didn’t want to win. She didn’t really even send this to the right email address. She said “This was not even me! I just wanted to tell you about these amazing women who were doing this wonderful thing every week for so long!” But this one’s just so menial–so wonderfully generous and selfless. (Some of our West Huntsville women also did this for over thirty years. Their hearts grew three sizes in this wonderful ministry and they were already very large hearts for Him!) Here are her words:
This isn’t a story about service today, but past service. I know your service contest is about today, but I wanted to tell you about these three wonderful women from Northport church of Christ. A few years back, I attended on a weeknight a “Boggins for Cancer” group there. This group has been meeting for years making toboggans and throws for cancer patients. I began talking with a lady and she told me what she and two other ladies did on Fridays. They went to a nursing home and washed and fixed hair for ladies who couldn’t afford to pay $25 each week to get theirs done. I was astounded. They were not trained professionally. One lady had done it for over 16 years and the other 2 for over 13 years. They said they could use my help, so I volunteered for a year until Covid struck. We did as many as 13 ladies on Fridays. A challenge doesn’t even describe what took place and those ladies, two in their 70s and one in her late 60s had been doing it for all those years. The ladies paid for everything they used. As time passed, I learned they did so much more. They brought them clothes, books, magazines, snacks, and calendars. One Friday, the three went on a beach trip with the church group. I knew how disappointed my new friends at the nursing home would be if someone didn’t come. They’d be lined up outside the tiny room waiting. I decided I’d try. I was able to do 8 ladies.
Each had their own challenges. Some could lie back. Some could bend forward. Some wanted curlers, some wanted blow-dry. Some used special shampoo. All wanted to talk. Some we could understand. Others not so much. One we brought hair bows for and each week required a new one, because no one could find them. No one understands what those three wonderful women did for so many for so long, but God and me. And what I did was only for a brief time compared. I told my daughter, Peyton, “Your church at Northport doesn’t have a clue what these ladies do each week.” You know, the nursing home never recognized those ladies for all they did, but I’m sure all those smiles each Friday was recognition enough.
In His love,
Debbie
And the Foot-washer knows about the hair-washers, too. In fact, he is the recipient of this great work, at times. “Inasmuch as you have done it to the least of these my brethren, you have done it to me.”
