Jun 22, 2012
A few days ago a friend and I went to goodwill so I could attempt to find some clothes for a talent show As we were exiting this store we heard this quiet “excuse me,” but we ignored it thinking it wasn’t directed at us. Then twice we heard the “excuse me!” but a little louder this time, I turned around and discovered this pregnant lady trying to get our attention. So I walked back over to her and she looked rather nervous and kinda surprised that we had acknowledged her call. I asked what she wanted and she proceeded to tell Katie and I that the car she was using ran out of gas, and someone dropped her off at the Goodwill so that a church friend could pick her up and take her to another friends house so she could get money for gas for the car she was borrowing. She asked if we could maybe give her a ride to the CVS down the street so she could meet up with a different friend there.
We of course said that we would give her a ride and asked if there was anything else she needed. As we walked to my car, she kept repeating “thank you Jesus” and “thank you so much girls” and such. Once in the car she started talking a lot, and said that she was talking so much so that she wouldn’t cry. So in an attempt to keep conversation going and encourage her, I asked what church she went to. She answered and asked why I asked about church and if we were Christians. I gladly answered, “yes we are Christians, and I asked because I noticed you saying ‘thank you Jesus’ and was just curious”. She smiled and kept talking a bit more and then asked where we went to church, so I told her about the church I attend and about Gospel for Asia. By this time we had reached the CVS and her friend wasn’t there. She was starting to get really nervous and panicky and without thinking I offered to take her where she needed to go and help her out in whatever way I could.
She was overfilled with thankfulness and happiness that she was literally speechless. After she regained her composure, she asked if we could stop by Taco Bell to get her some food for the baby. We of course went to Taco bell’s drive through and paid for her meal. I gave her my contact information and kept encouraging her that it was the Lord’s answer to my prayers that I am able to help her out as one of my sisters in Christ. She kept marvelling over how calm and peaceful Katie and I were the entire time. After Taco Bell, we drove to her friends house so she could get her friends debit card to get gas, but she needed $25 so she could get gas. We didn’t have cash on us, so we went to an ATM and I got her some money so she could fill up the car she was borrowing. After that we went back to her friends house, she got the debit card, then we drove her, I’m guessing to her house.
I invited her to Gospel For Asia’s prayer meetings on Tuesday night and she said she might come. I’m hoping to hear from her again, and I’m so glad that we were able to be there to help her out. God is so good! I had been praying for an opportunity to obey Him without hesitation, and He gave me this! I’m glad this sister is safe, and I’m glad we could be a light and encouragement for her. God’s timing is so perfect. 🙂
Please like and share this post:
Jun 12, 2012
Almost every day I go to work at Customer Service. Among other things it involves helping people with their questions, taking returns and keeping items tagged and ready to be sold. There are days when Customer Service is clean and organized. There are no piles of things to do and equally wonderful all the people are pleasant and easy to help.
Inevitably however there will come that day when disorder and chaos take over . Your once clean counter is collecting a pile of returned clothing, and the small back room becomes smaller because broken coffee makers are dangerously stacked. And guess what that same chaos has hit the rest of the store. No one can seem to keep up, so all your carts are full and there is no where else stick the stuff people keep returning. In addition to that bundle of “fun,” all those once happy customers have turned into angry people who are dissatisfied with the store.
To me it is like a mirror image of life. One day there is unity among family and friends, your health, job and house are all in tip top shape and your breathing easy. Then much like the chaos that erupts in the store you find out you have some painful health condition, your car brakes down, and there is drama and discord among you and your friends.
James 1:2 -4 says
“Dear bothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, let it be an opportunity for great joy. For when your faith is tested your endurance will have a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is full developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything “
James says “when” not “if.” We are assured that troubles will come and our faith will be tested. However we are also told that these are opportunities. Life here on earth as a believer was not meant to be some easy, pleasurable experience. We will face trials and pain.
Now our struggles here may not seem as massive as that of someone else, but they are our struggles. The enemy knows how to drag us down and make us useless, but more so our Heavenly Father knows how to use those same things for good. So next time troubles come your way, be joyful! and thank God for allowing you be refined. Then endure by the power of the Holy Spirit and the guidance of God’s Word and get ready to grow.
Please like and share this post:
Jun 11, 2012
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” Philippians 4:6
I was at Gospel For Asia for a week of interviews. I was confident I was ready to be on staff. Thursday morning I was praying, and God said “Wait.” “Wait? For what? I’ve been waiting for over six months already.”
I went into my last interview with David and he asked me how I felt. I answered “I feel like God is telling me to wait a little longer to get some more life skills.” This answer was not easy. In fact, the whole day I cried about it. I felt like God had abandoned me though, in reality He was a lot closer than I felt at the time.
When I got home, my parents were getting all over me for my decision, just as upset as I felt.
The next couple of weeks were tough. Satan kept on taunting me for the decision, even though my parents came to realize I had made the right decision. I honestly did not feel that way at the time.
During this time God had to keep on reminding that He is in control not me. There were a couple of verses that kept on popping up at the time. The first one was Philippians 3:12-13, where Paul writes about pressing on and keeping our eyes on Jesus despite our difficulties. The other one was Philippians 4, where Paul writes about bringing our prayers to God.
Almost immediately I started looking for jobs. I applied for one job, and I got a rejection letter.
The second job I applied for at a nursing home to do food service. I got an interview for this job.
I was in church this past Sunday, and the pastor did a sermon on Ezekiel 37:1-14 about the valley of dry bones. He talked about how when things seem hopeless God comes and renews us by His spirit. The past two weeks I had felt like a bunch of dry bones walking around. I didn’t know what God wanted me to do next and nothing seemed to be happening.
On Wednesday of this past week, I got a call from the employer from the nursing home I applied for. She wanted to know if I had a third reference, since she couldn’t get a hold of my references. I gave her a name and she said she would call me back after getting a hold of the reference. That same afternoon, I got a phone call asking me to do a drug test the next morning, which I agreed to do.
A few hours after the drug test, I got a phone call. I didn’t get it till around 4:20 when my mom came home because I was in the pool.
I called back once I got it, and found out I was hired for the job at the nursing home.
It is amazing how God has been working this past month. God has taught me so much about contentment and what it means to seek Him.
God knows all our needs and will provide for them in his timing. We just have to continue to seek His kingdom before anything else.
I am thankful to God, because he has given me a job I never expected to have and I’ll get to share His love with the nursing home residents.
Please like and share this post:
Dec 8, 2011
Last weekend I took two days off. On Sunday, I was getting antsy. I just wanted to run!!!! (That is how I felt) The whole afternoon I couldn’t concentrate on anything else. It is pretty bad when you are having withdrawals from running. That night I couldn’t sleep. I realized I was making running an idol.
God has been teaching me to put him before everything else. Jesus says in Luke 15:26-27, “If you want to be my disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparision-your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters-yes, even your own life. Otherwise you cannot be my disciple. And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my own disciple.” There are thousands of excuses we can come up with for not seeking the Lord. It could be work, school, running, or a number of other things. These things in the end will not matter. In the end there are two things that will matter. The first is knowing Jesus and having a relationship with Him. The second is telling others about Jesus so they too can have a relationship with God.
So the question for you and me to contemplate is what is holding us back from having a deeper relationship with Him? Are you making an excuse not to know and follow Him above everything else?
Prayer: Father, so many times I fail to put you as the most important thing in my life. Please forgive me for those times I make idols out of the gifts you give me. Help me to seek and follow you above everything else. I ask you would take away my idols and help me to glorify you in everything I do. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Please like and share this post:
Dec 4, 2011
I had an “aha moment” just now as I was listening to my current favorite song “How He Loves” by John Mark Mcmillan, while chatting with a friend of mine about how we are trusting God for the future instead of us trying to manipulate circumstances so they work out how we want them, instead of how God wants them.
This is what I sent him:
– It’s crazy that EVERYTHING in our lives was planned out to perfection before we were even born.
– That God planned what we would learn, how we would learn it, and when would learn to apply it.
– Meaning that everything that happened before we learned the truth, before it finally “clicked” was His plan as well.
– That those experiences are what brought us to the realization of His Truth in this very moment.
– Just like everything we are learning now is for preparation for what’s in store for us in the future.
– Everything is timed perfectly.
– So perfectly in fact that we often times miss it.
– We miss what He is doing and has done until He points it out to us.
– And it’s all so that we can know how much He loves us. All so that we can then turn and give glory to Him for working the good in our lives amidst all the bad that we perceived as bad, which was actually for out ultimate good.
Isn’t that crazy? God is so good. Anyway… that was my Aha moment.
Please like and share this post:
Page 6 of 9« First«...5678...»Last »
Recent Comments