Frequent Failures

Can I confess to you that I fail quite frequently at living like Jesus? I was watching my one-year-old daughter trying to walk and run in a new pair of shoes. She was falling repeatedly, yet each time she would quickly jump up and continue on with the same zeal that she had had before she fell. My own failures often lead me to discouragement and despair. Lord, when I fall help me to get up and get going for Your glory! "Do not gloat over me my enemy. Though I have fallen, I will rise; though I sit in darkness the Lord will be my light." (Micah 7:8)

Sharing Faith

He sat on a barstool behind the counter reading a book. "What are you reading?" I asked. He proceeded to tell me it was a novel a neighbor had loaned him and that it was "hard to get into." I responded by remarking that I liked Christian books. "Do you know anything about Christianity?" I asked. He did. He grew up going to a Pentecostal church. A door opened, and I shared my testimony. I sensed God had His hand on this young man's life, and it took me back to the days that the Lord gave me eyes to see more and more of my Master through the lives of ordinary people who were willing to tell me the Truth. He uses each of us to be His messengers to clerks behind counters and strangers on the street. I gave him a copy of "Fifty Reasons Jesus Came to Die," and I've been praying for him ever since. Will you join me? "I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ." (Philemon 6)

Good Idea

Two rows of parking. One long line of cars. The guy in front of us pulled out of the line to look for a space in the second row. Good idea. We followed and found a spot in seconds. As we were struggling with the stroller and digging out the diaper bag, an SUV stopped alongside us. "You know, we were all waiting in one line to get parking," exclaimed the lady inside. "We didn't know," my husband calmly remarked. "Do you want this space?" I asked. "Yes!" came the quick reply. We packed up and pulled out. "That was a good idea," my husband said to me just after calling out "God bless you" to the woman. Fifteen years ago it would have been a different day. Where did what I said come from? Grace. Where did what my husband said come from? Grace. Where did what that lady received come from? Grace. It's a good idea every time. "Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." (2 Peter 3:18)