Be Grateful

I don't know about you but the economy doesn't seem to be getting any better. It seems to be getting worse. This is a time we all need to help each other, encourage each other and see that we may not have it as bad as others and to help them.

My daughter lives in Kenya. She was there when the riots and killings took place just after the election. She and 4 other children were trapped in their home for 2 weeks because of all the shootings that surrounded them. We would talk on the phone every day (or when there was power) just so there was a connection for both of us. One morning a priest from a neighboring town knocked on her door and said he was going to try to make it to a big city and maybe they could get a bus to get to Nairobi. She grabbed the kids and what they could fit in a back pack and off they went. Normally, it was a 4 hour drive but this time it took twice as long as the priest tried to avoid road blocks, fires and mobs. They made it to the big city of Kisumu where they saw devastation. They managed to get on a convoy of buses and after 24 hours they made it to safety. My daughter found out a few days later that the kind priest had headed back to his village but was killed before he could get home. There is a special place for that man in heaven because of his kind deed.

My daughter now says that because of all the destruction there is a famine in the land. Parents are selling their children just to get money for food. If they can't get money then they throw the children out of the house. She says there are 4 & 5 years old wandering the streets looking for food and trying to survive.

Stories like these kind of help us put our lives into perspetive. Let's be grateful for what we do have. Be grateful for the job you have. If you don't have a job then be gratefull that there is a new opportunity ahead. We have opportunities every day. There are children out there that have none.

Thank you Jesus

make an impact

It is time to make an impact!
This year, so far, seems to have much uncertainty to it. The economy is heading in all directions, job loses are at an all time high, there are wars around the world, the weather is at its extreme, one could almost panic because of the uncertainty.

It is times like this that we all need encouragement….a comforting word that will help us get through. There was something I was told many years ago when I lived in Zimbabwe. My life seemed to have hit an all time low. My whole world collapsed from under me and I felt ashamed because it did. I was out saving the world and yet my world disappeared. Where was my faith, my peace, my joy? I couldn’t feel it. A sweet African woman who was in charge of taking care of us told me something that changed my life. She said, “God knows, God cares and God loves”. It was just a few simple words but what an impact. It is something that I have never forgotten. I have listened to many preachers and teachers who were powerful in the Word but none of them ever made an impact as this simple African lady with the few words she said. She was not a bible scholar; she didn’t stand before thousands and preach, she was a simple servant of the Lord, a mother of 7, full of joy even though she had little as far as material things. She taught me more in the time we were together than all the years of being under bible scholars.

I fear she is dead now. We left as Mugabee ordered the white people out of Zimbabwe. Famine hit the land and many have died and are still dying because of the evil of this one man.

Why am I telling you this? Because I want you to know that you don’t have to be someone “important” to make an impact on someone’s life. A housewife, a mother, a husband, a father, a son, a daughter, a grandmother, a grandfather all have something to say…some thing that you have learned that would impact someone else. Don’t think your life is boring and you have nothing to offer. If this African woman thought that and never shared her knowledge with me I am sure I would not be writing this today. She got up every morning trying to figure out how to feed her children, to a bathe from a small bucket of water; at dusk they would all be out catching grasshoppers for dinner (a delicacy I never could get use to) but her relationship with Jesus was phenomenal. She knew Him and that is what made the difference.

We have all learned something from our past. Maybe a lot of it is what “not” to do and that is important but I am sure there are things that you did that were right and that is just as important. Share with those around you. Humbly share what the Lord has taught you through your up’s and down’s.

The next step is to think beyond your small boundaries. People on the other side of the world can learn from you. I had to go from Arkansas at the time and go all the way to Zimbabwe to learn but you don’t have to do that. We have discovered that by writing down what we have learned and sending it to other countries that our simple lessons can make an impact on others.

One book can reach millions and impact thousands. It is amazing how the written word can make an impact on a people. There is such a lack of the written Word, lack of teaching people how to live a life of freedom. There are so few books that direct people to Jesus and help them grow in the foundation of God’s love. Can you be in that group?

God has given you so much. You have so much wisdom. Don’t let the person in the pulpit tell you that you aren’t important enough or good enough. Jesus has put something in everyone of His children.
It is time to make an impact.

Share what someone has said to you, or something you read that made an IMPACT on your life. I would love to hear from you.

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