DID YOU HEAR?

No matter where we are HE IS!

Not a day nor night went by while in hospital and rehab without the Lord sending someone or several to share His love with, share testimony with, and more. It was ALL HIM! For the willing servant, blessings flow to and through us!

Surrender, listen, follow!

 

 

Grocery Shopping – A Testimony

Give yourself entirely to those around you. Be generous with your blessings. A kind gesture can reach a wound that only compassion can heal.

– Steve Maraboli –

When I was formally baptized in the Holy Spirit, I came home so excited to share my Jesus with the world!  I didn’t have a blog back then, wasn’t employed, and lived in a place full of strangers . . . I stayed home a lot since money needed to last.  Some of those things are still true, but stay with me here, for there’s more. 

You see, I prayed in frustration “Lord, you blessed me and I just want to share this with the world.  I want them to know you, too, but how can I do that now?  I don’t go anywhere but church and grocery shopping!”

He calmed me but I will admit there was no clear message in response.  Shortly afterward, I did have to go to the grocery store.  I will say it’s a chore I never liked.  Nothing to do with money, I just never liked that particular chore.  This time was different. 

I didn’t think to pray for Him to place people in my path for me to reach for Him.  He will if we ask.  He likes it when we do.  I didn’t think of it back then.  He did.  Before I even got in the store, He placed people in my path.  Some were Christians who witnessed to me, and others were folks I found myself speaking to in ways I’d have never done before, but He gave me words and courage and I was able to do this through Him. 

The people I spoke to were complete strangers to me.  They weren’t wearing tee shirts proclaiming their beliefs, nor was I.  It was all Him.  I still don’t go out much but for necessary errands and church as I’m still walking a path toward provision . . . but I never go to the grocery store without seeing, hearing or speaking of Him!  Know what?  I love to grocery shop! 

If you haven’t given Him your heart yet, I urge you to do so.  You simply cannot imagine what you’re missing!  If you know Jesus already, please share His love!  The opportunities are everywhere.  Your love, blessings, and compassion shared might be the only glimpse of Jesus someone sees that day!

Our God Is Greater!

It’s a gloomy day  and I don’t know about you, but I find that sometimes this can be the sort of day that the evil one finds me at my weakest, so I turned to my sources of defense – prayer, listening, Scripture, and  . . . PRAISE MUSIC.

Care for a bit of Chris Tomlin?  Here’s OUR GOD IS GREATER!  He is!  Spread the Word!

 

Are You a Witness?

When I first heard the words “you need to be a witness to Christ” I thought “oh, no.  How can I be one?”  Of course, that word brought to mind the concept of witnessing a crime.  Then as I realized that I was to share my personal story of my love affair with the Lord in a way that would draw others to Him, I was both excited and terrified!  I thought “what if they don’t like me?”  and then thought “but what do I know that will convince anyone?”  And lastly, I thought “well, shoot, I don’t go out much lately and so I wonder who I can find to witness to?  

Well, folks I am here to tell you that, first of all, witnessing is a huge blessing!  Second of all, how can you do this and can you come up with something convincing?  Let me ask you this.  Honey, if you baked a chocolate cake from a family favorite recipe and you just loved that cake, would you have any trouble trying to convince me to taste it?  If you can be convincing on the subject of chocolate cake, how much more convincing can you be about the lover of your soul?  Just show your love!  That’s all.  We make it harder than it is.  Finally, as to whom shall you witness for?  Well, today I hardly left my room and computer all day.  I’ve been working on the book I’m currently writing.  Still, I found 3 opportunities to witness.  In this age of technology, we can use blogs, email, text messages, and so much else to do this.  We can also witness to friends, family, other people in church . . . yes, these people are in all the places you spend time in and just because you see them often, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t share your passion for Christ with them.  It might be that there’s an empty space in their heart that  your words will help fill.

Blogs reach a lot of folks, if they can find them.  If you have a blog here and just chat it up with friends and family, you are limiting your possible opportunities to reach so many more.  There are blog directories and forums on the internet where you can register your blog and thus reach many more people interest in what you are writing about and needing to learn from your example.  One such place is  Technorati.com and the process to link up with these services is quite simple.  Fill out a few short bits of required information, and receive an email to which you’ll respond.  Sometimes a directory will ask you to type something on your blog to confirm that it does belong to you and that you are a “real human” and not a  spam program.  Technorati uses a code that you type into a blog post like this one:  EWQFB667SPQQ and once they’ve confirmed who you are, your words will find a much broader audience and your chances to witness will grow greatly! 

Let your light shine, folks.  Our Lord needs all of us.  We are His body in this world!

Are You Passionate About Christ?

My friend Mary and I were emailing back and forth about an upcoming picnic we’d both been invited to.  I admit I’m a bit of a wallflower and wasn’t planning to attend and did indicate this to her.  Her response was quite compelling!  In reply, I said “Wow!  I didn’t know you were in sales!” Quoting from her reply to that statement, she said “it works best when you have passion about something.” 

Passion.  We think of that as a romantic relationship, a heated moment alone with someone we love . . . we hear the story of the Passion of Christ this time of year at church – our Lord’s death on the cross to save us, but for the rest of the year, most of us really only think of passion in the other more secular and limited frame of reference.   We see movies where the main character “fakes” passion to attain a desired response.  But what does it mean to be passionate?  Can it truly be faked?  The dictionary defined it as compelled by intense emotion and strong feeling.  In my view, this cannot be faked.   My friend wasn’t really trying to twist my arm into going to a picnic.  She was expressing strong feelings about the group hosting it, and a cause she so strongly believed in.  Her reaction to my hesitation to go was impossible to ignore not because of an attempt to convince me, but because of an honest passion deep within her that was coming to the surface.

Some things have come to my mind as a result of her email.  Passion sells!  We cannot, in my view, fake it but I am certain that we can hold it back.  Are you passionate for Christ?  Do  you let your soul dance?  Do you allow His light to shine through you?  We never know who we may pass during our daily life who might see our passion for Christ and be drawn to Him by it.  One such example was a priest friend who spoke a few words about a conversion moment in his life.  Tears in his eyes, he spoke of it’s importance to him on the anniversary of this occasion in his life.  As a result of this, my own personal relationship with the Lord has grown HUGELY.  My friend wasn’t trying to change me.  He was just letting his soul dance and my heart and soul wanted to dance too!

I fell in a parking lot and was a bit cut and dazed.  A total stranger came to my rescue, cleaned my wounds and asked if she could pray for me?  She took a “risk” many of us wouldn’t have taken.  She blessed me more than she will ever know.  Her passion changed me.

I went to a retreat a while back.  I told a friend about my experience.  I don’t know what I said.  I was so excited by my weekend and the way the Lord touched me that I couldn’t talk or think of anything else in those days just after I returned.  He told me recently that he was going to attend the next retreat because of what it did for me.  I had no idea anything I said touched him.  I wasn’t trying to.   However, I didn’t hold back and did allow my passion to come through.

Like my friend Mary said, it works best when you have passion!  Do you have passion for Christ?  Please don’t hold it inside you – let it shine!