TODAY’S SIGNATURE VERSE ••• In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:16 ESV)
PRAISE & PRAYER PROMPT ••• Good very early in the morning. It’s about 1 AM as I write this. I’m never up this late, but I came home from church and needed to work on a project. I also had a venti Starbucks almond milk latte with an extra shot of espresso before church tonight. Though I’m not sure I can blame the coffee… I can usually drink up to three cups of coffee before I go to sleep without problem. I think I’m just amped up on adrenaline. Which is such a weird feeling at night… body is exhausted but my mind is racing.
Anyway… I’m likely going to oversleep so I figured it may be a good idea to write My Grace-Full Life before bed tonight.
This evening was the first night of a new series of Wednesday night Bible studies at church and I am leading a group on Lysa TerKuerst’s book, “Finding I Am.” It’s a great study; I did it a few years ago when the book was published. But tonight was hard… Almost two weeks ago, I shared that a friend of mine had passed away unexpectedly and we were supposed to co-lead this study. I missed her. She and I co-led a study last year and we had really enjoyed it. I was looking forward to doing this again with her.
There was discussion right after she died about whether or not we should postpone or cancel the study. But we decided that the right thing was to continue it.
The whole thing has reminded me of October 2018. My grandmother had suffered a brain stroke and she had been admitted to Hospice. I wrote a resignation of sorts from My Grace-Full Life (or at least, a temporary leave of absence). I was so overwhelmed by the loss we knew was coming and wasn’t sure I could continue writing… but just as I was giving the blog a final read through, I feel like God spoke to my heart (and in my grandmother’s voice) to remind me—there is no break from sharing about Jesus.
So I stopped. I erased everything, and wrote a new post.
Even in our personal losses and heartache, people need to hear about Jesus. And they need to be encouraged in their faith. They need to be reminded that God is trustworthy and worthy of our worship, praise, and trust.
It’s our job as Christians to live out our faith, no matter our situations or circumstances. For me—that includes (but is not limited to) pecking away at an iPhone keyboard every morning, which I’ve done daily for almost three years. For you, it may look like something else… I’m too tired to come up with an example but you’re smart and you know what I mean.
Jesus said in Matthew 5:16 ESV, “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
Wherever you are, whatever you do, and whatever you’re facing—make it a priority to live your faith for the world to see. Its easy to let your light shine on your brightest days, but make sure others can see it on your darkest ones too.
Today, as you pray, thank God for being good in all situations. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you see past the circumstances of the moment to the promises of His great plan.
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