{"id":80,"date":"2009-08-29T23:41:00","date_gmt":"2009-08-29T23:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2009\/08\/unexpected-blessings.html"},"modified":"2009-08-29T23:41:00","modified_gmt":"2009-08-29T23:41:00","slug":"unexpected-blessings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2009\/08\/unexpected-blessings.html","title":{"rendered":"Unexpected Blessings"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>There\u2019s a woman who cleans apartments in my building who lives up in the Bronx in a very poor neighborhood. She appreciates anything people give her that they don\u2019t need and finds homes for it all with her friends and neighbors. I always save clothes and household items I don\u2019t need for Esther and get stuff for her from other people with stuff to give away. She\u2019s a lovely lady and full of gratitude for everything I give her, even when I consider it junk.<\/p>\n

I once gave Esther a broken boombox, only because she insisted she\u2019d take it. I’d have chucked it! The next week I saw her and she was excited to tell me that a man in her building fixed it and a girl in her building was ecstatic to get it. I\u2019d have just thrown it out had I not known Esther makes the most out of everything. She\u2019s a good woman who loves helping others and gets pleasure out of taking what people don\u2019t need and giving it to those who have little.<\/p>\n

Blessings can truly come back to you in unexpected ways!<\/span><\/p>\n

I actually cried when I heard this story. Esther has several young kids and took in her grandchildren when her daughter was struggling. Mind you, Esther doesn\u2019t have much money. Her grandson needed gym shorts for school. She told him he\u2019d have to wait until she had spare cash. He came home crying that his teacher said he had to have the shorts and if he didn\u2019t come in with them, he\u2019d fail gym and have to sit in detention. He didn\u2019t want to go to school anymore!<\/p>\n

I admit, it\u2019s hard for me to imagine being so strapped for money that you can\u2019t afford to buy a pair of shorts! I realized that\u2019s something I should be grateful for!<\/span><\/p>\n

Esther is trying to provide for 5 kids on her own by cleaning apartments. After making sure they\u2019re fed, there was little left. That night, she cried and then prayed over and over, asking God for a miracle\u2014to help her find a way to get her grandson gym shorts. He\u2019s very tall and strapping for his age so he needed an adult pair. Before she went to sleep, Esther went to move some bags of clothes she\u2019d brought home that day.<\/p>\n

She stood with her mouth open as she noticed a pair of shorts for guys on the top of one bag, exactly what her grandson needed. She cried, this time from joy, when she saw they were his size!<\/p>\n

After bringing stuff home for years and distributing to those who need it, Esther was got a miracle when she needed it!<\/span><\/p>\n

We often don\u2019t realize how much good the stuff we no longer want can do for someone else. It\u2019s so easy to toss out an old shirt or pan or whatever seems old and is replaced by a better one. But there are many people who can use what you can\u2019t. Finding another home for your unwanted items is a blessing to someone who has little. Plus, it helps the environment by recycling instead of adding to the garbage.<\/p>\n

For me Esther\u2019s blessing was personal. It turned out the shorts belonged to my brother-in-law. My sister had sent some bags for Esther at my suggestion. The act of giving away old clothes created blessings for a bunch of people! Think before you toss things out!<\/span><\/p>\n

If you enjoyed my post, please leave a comment and\/or click on the bookmark and write a short review at some of the sites, especially Stumbleupon and Digg. Thanks!

\"AddThis<\/a> var addthis_pub = ‘wryter’;
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s a woman who cleans apartments in my building who lives up in the Bronx in a very poor neighborhood. She appreciates anything people give her that they don\u2019t need and finds homes for it all with her friends and neighbors. I always save clothes and household items I don\u2019t need for Esther and get…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nice-people-can-finish-first"],"yoast_head":"\nUnexpected Blessings - Lessons from a Recovering Doormat<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2009\/08\/unexpected-blessings.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Unexpected Blessings - Lessons from a Recovering Doormat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There\u2019s a woman who cleans apartments in my building who lives up in the Bronx in a very poor neighborhood. She appreciates anything people give her that they don\u2019t need and finds homes for it all with her friends and neighbors. I always save clothes and household items I don\u2019t need for Esther and get…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2009\/08\/unexpected-blessings.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lessons from a Recovering Doormat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-08-29T23:41:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_W3h59OgJIAA\/Spn2TQK_5mI\/AAAAAAAABDQ\/hVq-_BF4iAs\/s200\/Photo+9.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Daylle Deanna Schwartz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Unexpected Blessings - Lessons from a Recovering Doormat","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2009\/08\/unexpected-blessings.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Unexpected Blessings - Lessons from a Recovering Doormat","og_description":"There\u2019s a woman who cleans apartments in my building who lives up in the Bronx in a very poor neighborhood. She appreciates anything people give her that they don\u2019t need and finds homes for it all with her friends and neighbors. I always save clothes and household items I don\u2019t need for Esther and get…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2009\/08\/unexpected-blessings.html","og_site_name":"Lessons from a Recovering Doormat","article_published_time":"2009-08-29T23:41:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_W3h59OgJIAA\/Spn2TQK_5mI\/AAAAAAAABDQ\/hVq-_BF4iAs\/s200\/Photo+9.jpg"}],"author":"Daylle Deanna Schwartz","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2009\/08\/unexpected-blessings.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2009\/08\/unexpected-blessings.html","name":"Unexpected Blessings - Lessons from a Recovering Doormat","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2009\/08\/unexpected-blessings.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2009\/08\/unexpected-blessings.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_W3h59OgJIAA\/Spn2TQK_5mI\/AAAAAAAABDQ\/hVq-_BF4iAs\/s200\/Photo+9.jpg","datePublished":"2009-08-29T23:41:00+00:00","dateModified":"2009-08-29T23:41:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/#\/schema\/person\/4250884f68a588907744baa491f9df35"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2009\/08\/unexpected-blessings.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2009\/08\/unexpected-blessings.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2009\/08\/unexpected-blessings.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_W3h59OgJIAA\/Spn2TQK_5mI\/AAAAAAAABDQ\/hVq-_BF4iAs\/s200\/Photo+9.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_W3h59OgJIAA\/Spn2TQK_5mI\/AAAAAAAABDQ\/hVq-_BF4iAs\/s200\/Photo+9.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2009\/08\/unexpected-blessings.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Unexpected Blessings"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/","name":"Lessons from a Recovering Doormat","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Daylle Deanna Schwartz","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/#\/schema\/person\/4250884f68a588907744baa491f9df35","name":"Daylle Deanna Schwartz","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/83b\/83ba6e1423377712fe408a5fab971bfax96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/83b\/83ba6e1423377712fe408a5fab971bfax96.jpg","caption":"Daylle Deanna Schwartz"},"description":"Daylle Deanna Schwartz is a speaker, self-empowerment counselor, best-selling author of 15 books, including Nice Girls Can Finish First (McGraw-Hill), All Men Are Jerks Until Proven Otherwise and founder of The Self-Love Movement\u2122 where she's giving away her 13th book, How Do I Love Me? Let Me Count the Ways, a She's appeared on hundreds of TV and radio shows, including Oprah, Howard Stern, and Good Morning America and has been quoted in dozens of publications, including the New York Times, Chicago Sun-Times, Cosmopolitan, Redbook, Marie Claire, and Men\u00b9s Health. After being a consummate People Pleaser who felt unworthy of getting her own needs met for many years, Daylle found a path of self-love that enabled her to build her self-esteem and reinvent herself into a dual career. She learned to get taken seriously without being overtly assertive when she became one of the first women to start an independent record label (on a dare!) and learned to play ball nicely and successfully in an industry dominated by men. To help independent musicians empower themselves, Daylle writes music business books for Billboard\/Random House, including the very popular Start & Run Your Own Record Labe and I Don't Need a Record Deal! Daylle's books have been translated into over 10 languages and are popular around the world. She speaks for colleges, organizations and corporations. Through her company, Project Self-Empowerment, Daylle creates programs and materials to help people empower themselves. One goal is to raise the money to self-publish her book, How Do I Love Me? Let Me Count the Ways and give it away for free in colleges and through organizations, to give thanks for all her blessings. Daylle uses her writing and speaking to help others find the kind of contentment and empowerment that she has.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/author\/dschwartz"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}