Today I went to Smoothie King after I left the gym, like I always do. As I neared the drive thru window, a little voice inside my head told me, “pay for the person’s order behind you.” Without hesitation, I handed the cashier my card and asked him to add the next person’s order to my bill. With a strange look on his face, he agreed. He then returned with my receipt and my smoothie and I pulled away.

When I got home I glanced at the receipt and realized that what I assumed would be an $8.00 act of random kindness, turned out to be $25.00. I immediately thought to myself, “wow! I tried to be generous and this is what happens?” I reached for my phone to text my mom about what had just occurred when I noticed the unread daily text message my preacher sends out. Sure enough, the text message read “Generosity is rarely about money. It‘s more about the willingness you have to share a blessing with other people. –Acts 20:35”

In that moment, God reminded me of why I chose to be generous; not because I thought it was a cheap favor, but because I chose to show kindness.

– Stephany Rankin (Student at Texas A&M University)