Happy Monday!

There are so many things going on in the world today.  Most of what we hear about is bad.  Thanks be to God, there is more to the story.

Pastor Saeed Abedini is an Iranian American Christian pastor who was imprisoned for nearly 3 years in Iran for threatening “national security” by making Christian gatherings. On January 16, 2016, he was released from prison with 2 other American prisoners.

Pastor Andrew Brunson was released after being imprisoned for 2 years.  Brunson was imprisoned on October 7, 2016 as part of the purges that followed the failed 2016 coup attempt.

There are heroes every day, saving lives or making lives better for friends and even total strangers.  There are people who go out of their way to visit, pray for or just pass on a kind, encouraging word to someone who needs it.

These things may or may not make the headlines and may never even be known by anyone but the parties involved.  Every single act is of major importance to someone though.

There is a quote that has always really stuck with me.  “Be careful how you live. You may be the only Bible some person ever reads.” – William J. Toms

Everything we do as a believer in Jesus Christ is as important as what you say. Francis of Assisi said, “It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching.”

And another personal favorite:  “Helping one person might not change the world, but it could change the world for one person.”

Pray Unceasingly!!

In His light,

Lois

Every Part of You

The Daniel Plan

Give yourselves completely to God—every part of you—for you are back from death and you want to be tools in the hands of God, to be used for his good purposes. —Romans 6:13 TLB

God has given us so much. He enables us to see, hear, breathe. There is darkness in our world, but there is also so much light. In Jesus’ resurrection, he has brought us back from death too, and we want to be able to give back to him with the same love that he gives to us.

We want every part of us to be a tool in his hands for good purposes.

There are so many things going on right now that are bigger than our problems. God has a much bigger picture in mind, and he wants us to be part of it. The Bible says we are “created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10 NIV).

If we think we don’t have the strength to do good works, that’s no problem, because God wants to work his strength through us. We have the privilege of being tools in his hands.

Food for Thought: God cheers for us to move forward in the world and bring all of ourselves to him, so that we can be used as vessels to give back to the world.