I want to tell you a story that happened to me a little before Christmas, 2019. I was making some gift baskets for Sharon’s closet ministry. I had seen some gift baskets on the internet and the items in the gift baskets were from the Dollar Tree and the Dollar Store. Someone had donated several baskets to the church. I was going to make about 15 gift baskets. I always start my projects with a budget, not that I ever stick to my budget, but it keeps me from getting crazy. My budget was a donation of $150.00 for the gift baskets. This did not include paint, wrapping paper, or bows. The budget was only for the items inside the basket. I have never really shopped in Dollar Tree; I was a little impressed in some of the items I found. I had the time to take my time and check every foot of the store. I was designing 5 baskets with cleaning items and 10 baskets with candy, coffee mugs, socks, etc. My hands were aching and my feet and legs tingling and numbing as usual. But I’m having such a wonderful time taking my time to examine each item before putting it in the basket. I would get 5 of this and 10 of that. I didn’t worry about the cost because everything was $1.00 each. (Great idea) I was able to get some bows and some paper to line the bottom of the baskets, I was having a blast. I had over a hundred items from the Dollar Tree. My next stop was in Pauls Valley to the Dollar Store. On my drive between Ardmore and Pauls Valley I had these amazing thoughts of my life over the last few months and where I was physically, mentally, and financially. The LORD sustains them on their sickbed and restores them from their bed of illness. Psalm 41:3.
