One of the reasons Dan and I knew God put us together was because we both have such a huge heart for people and for the Lord’s work. You see, individually we both felt the Lord tugging on our hearts but didn’t know how to pursue it. There was something confusing and yet scary about following God’s lead into the “unknown”. But something about Dan and I being together was the one “thing” that made it seem so easy…so exciting. It is like God gave us to each other knowing we could support, encourage, and feed off of each other’s enthusiasm for His work. I will never forget our conversation in the kitchen only a couple months after we were married when I encouraged Dan to follow through on his dream of going to seminary. Or the time we got a phone call from a friend of mine to help start a church in Glendale. There was never a doubt in our mind that God wanted us to do those things, and we knew He gave us each other to go through them together.
Dan and I understood that God was calling us to a bigger purpose than ourselves, and we have tried to take every opportunity we can to impact others for God. One thing that we have had the pleasure of experiencing through our journey is all different levels of relationships. Friendships, mentor relationships, leadership relationships, teachers, confidants, encouragers, and everything in between. It hasn’t always been easy. Sometimes we took leaps of faith that we knew if God didn’t catch us we were going to fall flat on our face. And sometimes we have had to make the choice to just follow His leading not knowing what would happen and trusting that He would use our gifts how He needed. God has helped us grow and blessed us tremendously through these experiences. Our prayer has always been that no matter what we endure or how much or how little we have to offer that it can be a blessing to all around us.
Has God ever brought people into your lives at just the right time? Or maybe they have been in your life for a long time, and God suddenly uses them at just the right time? I love it when you can see God at work.
This morning we were at church and we were sitting next to some friends. We have known these particular friends for a while and I personally have grown close to her quickly and easily (more on why later). It was towards the beginning of service when my friend leaned over handed me a slip of paper and said it was “for you”. I looked at her puzzled and she just said, “this is for you and we don’t want it to go anywhere else.” And she blew me a kiss. My husband looked at me confused and he could tell by the look in my eyes without even knowing what exactly it was that her (their) gesture had just made a huge impact on me (us). I had an indication of what it could be by something she said but without even looking I slipped the paper into my purse and we were invited to stand for our last worship song. I didn’t look at the paper, I didn’t have to look. The gesture itself was enough to send me into a tailspin of emotion. I couldn’t even sing. I just stood up and cried and thanked the Lord for His blessings and for this couple allowing God to work through them.
Still not even looking at the slip of paper I gave her a hug after service and thanked them for their gesture. She said that they had felt lead for quite some time to do something for someone but they weren’t quite sure of the Lord’s leading until this week God revealed to them to bless us. It didn’t surprise me that they have such amazing hearts and a willingness to show God’s love to others however they can. I said before Dan and I have been blessed with many different relationships. One thing about that is everyone is on a different point in their journey or walk with God. This couple….I don’t know how else to put it except…..they GET IT!!!! They get that Jesus love is for anyone and everyone. They get that we are put on this earth to glorify Him in EVERYTHING we do. They get that if God leads them to do something, no matter how big or small they may feel it is, that God wants them to follow through so He can use it for His glory. They GET IT! And that is why I love being around her. She challenges me to be a better person, a more loving person, a more faithful person, a more godly person…simply by being who she is IN CHRIST!
The gesture itself was enough to bless us (before we even opened it). We felt cared for, we felt loved, we felt important. Something we try so hard to help others feel. We got to the car and as we were driving home I took the slip of paper out and began to open it…though part of me was nervous and partially in disbelief (am I really worthy of any blessing Lord?). Dan and I knew this was God using our friends without a doubt. Have you ever had that feeling when you KNOW that God is right there with you and you are nervous, and wondering what He is doing? What was in the slip of paper confirmed our suspicion (although it was way beyond what we would have ever thought we would be worthy of). This may sound weird to some but bear with me….It was like God reached down and embodied her and said “here….I haven’t forgotten you. You are important to me. And I will take care of you.”……
We are so tremendously grateful to have these friends in our life who get it…they get us…they get our hearts…and they get the Lord’s leadings in their life!! Our friends didn’t have to do what they did. They didn’t have to follow that little tug in their hearts where God was telling them to do this. But they did, and they trusted that God would use it how He needed to bless the ones that needed to be blessed …through them.
My reason for sharing this? God uses people! God can use you! Remember no matter how big or small a gesture you may think, if you feel God leading you follow through and trust that He will use that gesture! You don’t always know what someone is going through, you don’t always know what is in their hearts, but if God is leading you to make a gesture TRUST in that. God will take care of the rest!
Let your life be an offering to Him, and you will be blessed in it as well.
Ephesians 5:2 (NIV)
2 and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
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