Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread.

Our Reading titled, Joy and Giving, was written by Alice and Kida.

When Carrie's young son was going through yet another surgery related to muscular dystrophy,

she wanted to take her mind off her family situation by doing something for someone else.

So she rounded up her son's outgrown but gently used shoes and donated them to a ministry.

Her giving prompted friends and family members and even neighbors to join in, and soon more

than 200 pairs of shoes were donated. Although the shoe drive was meant to bless others,

Carrie feels her family was blessed more. The whole experience really lifted our spirits

and helped us to focus outward, Carrie said.

Paul understood how important it was for followers of Jesus to give generously. On his way to Jerusalem,

the Apostle Paul stopped in Ephesus. He knew it would likely be his last visit with the people of the

church he'd founded there in his farewell address to the church elders in Acts 20

he reminded them how he'd worked diligently in service to God and encouraged them

to do the same then he concluded with Jesus's, it is more blessed to give than to receive.

Jesus wants us to freely and humbly give of ourselves. When we trust him to guide us,

he'll provide opportunities for us to do so. Like Carrie's family, we may be surprised by the joy we experience as a result.

Today's Our Daily Bread Devotional Scripture reading is from Acts chapter 20, verses 17 through 24, and 34 through 35.

From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church. When they arrived, he said to them,

You know how I lived the whole time I was with you from the first day I came into the province of Asia. I serve the

Lord with great humility and with tears, and in the midst of severe testing by the plots of my

Jewish opponents. You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you,

but have taught you publicly and from house

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