I truly spend most of my life floundering around convinced I'm not of much use to God's kingdom and wishing I could do something more to lift the load of my friends who are hurting, or to honor His name, or to meet the needs I see in the world.
Every now and again, God gives me a glimpse of a way He HAS used me when I wasn't looking.
Months ago I hosted a small gathering at my home. One of the women had shared about some discouragement, and as she left that evening, I casually said, "If you ever want to talk, feel free to call."
Simple words. Tossed out almost without thought. Certainly no great act of sacrifice or love. This was a sweet woman to whom it was easy to reach out.
But she later wrote to me and shared that the simple invitation was an answer to a long battle she had fought with feeling insignificant. She had been praying that God would do something to reassure her that she was lovable, that she was important to Him. Standing on my front porch, she felt His answer.
Wow.
I've been on the receiving end of those sorts of timely, kind words, as well.
Last winter, I was facing a scary heart catheterization procedure. The morning before heading to the hospital, I opened my emails and found one from a woman I'd met briefly several months earlier (who knew nothing about my health struggles). "I don't know why," she wrote. "and this might sound weird. But for some reason God has really impressed on me that I should pray for you. So I wanted to let you know I'm praying."
I put my head on my desk and burst into tears. Joyful tears. Without me even asking, He was nudging people to support me in prayer.
How about you? Have you ever received the gift of a kind word at a crucial time?
Or have you said something and later learned it was exactly what the other person needed?
Proverbs 25:11 says, "A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver."
Let's find some ways to share golden apples today!
Blessings!
Sharon Hinck
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment