Be Inspired

I was reading a Facebook post of a dear friend last week. I was inspired by what she wrote. The anniversary of her husband’s successful liver transplant was upon them and while she praised God for this miracle, she did something even more amazing. She asked for everyone to pray for the family of the person who donated the organ to her husband. As her family was celebrating an anniversary of joy and blessing, she knew on that same day another family was suffering and remembering the loss of a loved one.

This post inspired me because it was such a great reminder to think of others more than ourselves. Throughout her husband’s illness and long wait on the transplant list while his health declined, she clung to her faith in God. She placed her complete trust in the Lord and chose to see where He was working in the midst of a very challenging time.

She was a constant inspiration to all who walked through this journey with their family because she chose to trust God, look for where He was working and share with others what He was doing. Sometimes it was something as simple as a smile or a gentle hand on her shoulder. It is amazing what a smile or gentle touch can do to show someone you care. Because she was bold enough in her faith to share what God was doing and how He was using others to minister to her and her family during this time, others were inspired and encouraged and their faith was strengthened.

In a time when you would think she and her family needed inspiration and encouragement, they provided it for others because of their amazing faith in God. It is not easy or natural to inspire others when you are suffering but if you are able to put your faith and trust in God and allow Him to work in and through you, you will bear fruit that will benefit others.

In the midst of the waiting she had an encounter with the Lord. One night as she was praying for her husband, the Lord impressed upon her to pray for the donor and his/her family. It was a moment that forever changed her perspective and the perspective of those around her. It was an immediate change of focus from herself, her husband and what they were facing to earnestly pray for the one’s who would be providing the answer to their prayers.

I vividly remember talking to her late one night about this and was immediately convicted myself for not looking beyond my friend and her situation. The Lord put a burden on my heart to pray for the family that would be providing the answer to the prayer. Many began to fervently pray for this family and the sacrifice they would be making, the suffering they would be facing and ultimately the blessing they would be providing.

The friend has had no contact with the donor family but still prays for them and praises the Lord for their willingness to give the gift of life through their sacrifice. She prays the Lord will continue to comfort them and give them peace and most of all that they would know and love him the way she does.

It would have been natural to celebrate the anniversary of a successful transplant and only focus on the good that came from it, but instead my friend decided to focus on those who made the ultimate sacrifice for her husband. Take some time today to look around and put someone else’s needs above your own. Pray for someone, encourage them and ask the Lord to work in and through you so you might inspire someone else.

Philippians 2:3-4

³ Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. ⁴ Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

• Photo by Shelly Sorem
• Scripture from http://www.biblegateway.com

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Decisions, Decisions

Psalm 100:4-5

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.”

It used to be that the day after Thanksgiving here in the U.S. was called Black Friday and was the biggest shopping day of the year with lots of bargains for those who wanted to get a jumpstart on their Christmas shopping.  However, Black Friday no longer starts early on Friday morning but actually starts on Thursday – on Thanksgiving.   For the last several years, stores have been opening a little earlier and a little earlier for “Black Friday” until now it should be called Black Thursday.  It is encroaching on family time and what traditionally is a holiday focused on family, food and being thankful.

Don’t get me wrong, I am all about a bargain and have been Black Friday shopping many years – in the early hours starting at about 5 am while the rest of my family slept. However, as the advertisements bombarded me on t.v., email and in the mail, it made me think of all the ways our world encroaches upon our boundaries.  It isn’t something that happens overnight, but slowly begins to creep over the line.

The same thing happens to us when we allow the things of this world to encroach on our time with our families and with our God. Slowly, little by little, we say “yes” to the things of the world and become so busy that we have very little time for God.  How many of us want to forego church on a Sunday morning to sleep in because we are exhausted from our week?  It is a pretty sad testament of our faith when we aren’t willing to give up an hour or so to honor and glorify the One who created us.

There are lots of good things for us to be involved in and to do, but our priorities need to be steadfast – God first and family second, everything else should be lower on the priority list. Somewhere along the way we have lost sight of the fact that everything we have and everything we are is because of the grace of God;  if we truly understood this, we would be anxiously awaiting any opportunity to praise Him and give Him thanks.

What things in your life do you need to say “no” to in order to say “yes” to spending time with the Lord?