May 7th, 2015

I am writing this letter to sincerely express my gratitude and thanks to the Continuing The Blessing Organization. I cannot tell you how much this act of kindness has meant to me and impacted my life. All of your deeds of kindness are completed with only the purest intentions. It is delightful that you would under no circumstances ignore the cries for aid of anyone and that you are attuned to the worries of even the smallest individuals who are struggling to survive.

When I moved to Atlanta from the DC, Maryland, Virginia area for college I could have never guessed what exactly God had in store for me. As I began my studies, I shortly started to experience a big economic crisis. By attending The Art Institute of Atlanta I realized that since I decided to go to a technical school I would have to give majority of my time to my school work in order to produce efficient work in the limited amount of time given. I wanted to fully focus on school so I decided to work only part-time to minimize any distractions that could hinder me from excelling to the best of my ability. I work about two to three times a week and make less than four hundred dollars as my monthly income. I am now at point where in order to pay for bills, food, school, and regular necessities I have to use my credit card on a daily basis.

I have experienced such hardship in these past three years in Ga such as starvation, depression, being penniless, homeless, and severely ill. Even though with all these adversities I still managed to excel in school and things slowly begun to turn around; I still been lacking the feeling of having stability in my life. It seemed like when I take one step forward I get pushed five steps back. I unfortunately don’t receive much support or assistance from my family and feel that I am like an exhibit on display; everyone just watching me struggle as if it’s entertainment. I struggle day to day with keeping my faith and believing that I will not struggle forever and eventually have something to call my own. I have felt worthless and a burden at times for not being fully capable of taking care of myself that I have thought to the extent of even ending my own life. In all, I continue to try my best to progress and move forward.

Recently for about a week I have had complications with my vehicle. I went to a shop to get an estimate on the cost to get my car fixed and my first estimate was almost seven hundred and thirty dollars. When I thought things couldn’t get any worse my friend offered to have a mechanic locally near him look at my car to receive a second opinion on my vehicle. ­After ripping and running between work and school I come to find out my rotors, power steering, and brake pads, are all damaged. My vehicle was in such bad condition that I was even told I was really taking a gamble on my safety by actually driving it. With my credit card almost maxed out and my vehicle being my only form of transportation, I needed to get my car fixed as soon as possible.

With the last couple of weeks being extremely hard for me with school, work, and residential issues, God knew just what to do to show me that he is here and is listening. Continuing The Blessing paid for my car expenses leaving me with no debt owed to my bill. Throughout my entire complicated and difficult life, I never thought I merited to have this type of love and care. I have family who has never shown me this type of kindness that it brought me to tears having it given to me by those who do not know me as well. To relieve me of this financial burden gave me hope that God has not forsaken me and will get me through any obstacle that is placed in front of me.If you only could imagine how this opened my mind to a whole different perspective on people and made me realize that we were not just blessed for ourselves, we were blessed to be a blessing to others. It is so unfamiliar to see but warms my heart that there are people who wants to help you but wants literally nothing in return. They help for no admiration, no "you owe me", no alternative motives, nothing just out of concern and care. Words can't explain the joy I felt today, it made every other negative thing in my life become irrelevant, like a light at the end of the tunnel. May you always have the ability and strength to be able to bless and impact the lives of others just as you have done for me. Words cannot express how thankful I am for God allowing you to come into my life and give me hope and faith that God will always provide a way.  Thank you!  

Sincerely,

Ashleè Dennis