Angels and Realizations

This is a picture of an Angel that crossed my life named Bonnie. I found her on a curb at the end of my street in a gas station parking lot. It was a very, very hot afternoon, nearly 100 degrees if I remember correctly. When I got out of my car to go into the store, she said hello to me, and I returned the kindness.
When I came out of the store, I noticed how hot and tired she looked, so I asked her if she was having a nice day and asked her what she was doing in the parking lot, on the curb. It was clear that she didn't have a vehicle, there was none in sight.
She said she was just sitting there enjoying the day. I told her it was pretty hot to be sitting there, and asked if she had some place to go to cool off. She started telling me a story about how her mother lived in Florida, but they were bringing her up to St. Thomas Hospital for heart surgery in a few days, and she was waiting. I asked her where she lived, and she told me "The third bush on the right". She was homeless. She came from Florida herself, to wait for her mother. She wasn't allowed to have anything to do with her Mother back at home. She had many sad stories.
I asked her if she would like to come home with me and get a warm meal and a nice cold shower. She said that she had been praying all day for an angel, and she was sure I was an answer to her prayer. Before she left the store though, she went in and bought two 24 oz. beers, and she offered to buy me one as well, but I said "no thanks". (she had been cleaning windows all day, and had money.)
We went home, she drank her beers pretty fast, and showered. She said she couldn't eat any food. She had forced something down earlier that day, and she gets sick when she eats food because she's an alcoholic. She was a very sad person, with very sad stories, but I blessed her day. She loved me.

This woman was an angel to me. She was the biggest blessing! I won't tell you about the personal ways that she touched me, because they are personal. But I will tell you that we find blessings in the most unexpected places. And sometimes we don't find blessings and answers in the places we have found them before, or expect to find them. It's so important to live daily.

One thing I will say for sure, it's in the giving of ourselves that we find blessing.
When we give, we receive...but the giving is the bigger blessing.
....and when you have needs, try to find one tiny thing that you can give of yourself. Give it with all of your heart, even if it seems like something so small it is almost worthless....because you have nothing else. And you will be blessed. A smile, when you don't feel like smiling, a dime to someone in need, when you wish you had $100 to give, a phone call when you don't have gas for a visit, a kind word when you know someone is down, an "I love you" when you know someone is feeling down or even worthless. A letter, a hug, a smile, a phone call, a flower, a text, a shower and a warm meal.

My Bonnie Angel and I prayed together before she left that day. I prayed for her, and she prayed for me. I offered her a bed to lay her head on. She went on her way, and I never saw her again. I met her a while back.
I am thinking about Bonnie tonight.