Then they said among the nations, "The Lord has done great things for them." The Lord has done great things for us and we are glad. (Verses 2b-3) italics, mine
Are people talking about you because they see that God has done great things in your life? Of course, we might not know that, but it's a question I asked about myself this morning when I read this. I know people talk about the mistakes I make. I hear about that. Know I'm far from the perfection I seek. But my God has done amazing things in my life to get me to this chair that slips under my dining room table as I write in the sunny morning while hummingbirds flit around the feeder on the back porch. I'm here by God's grace, slathered in mercy, covered in His love and anchored by His peace.
At six years old, I virtually ran down the aisle of our huge Baptist church and told the pastor I wanted to give my life to Jesus. Very young. But I knew Jesus came into my heart to live. Even then. On a retreat several years later when I was in high school, I visited a chapel at Mary Hardin Baylor college by myself. Alone there, in the bright warm sunlight of south Texas, God met me. A ray of light I can still feel on my face warmed the space around me. It was there I told the Lord I'd go wherever He sent me. Thinking I'd be a missionary, maybe. I am. We all are. Here I am in California by the beach.
In college, disturbed by doubts, needing adult answers to hard questions about faith, I challenged God to be real to me. Sat for hours in the University of Texas library digging for extra-biblical truth about Jesus. There is quite a cache of it, by the way. Finding myself one night asking Jesus to be the lord of my life, not just my Savior. My first teaching job was in a small town in Texas, Class B high school. By a weird set of circumstances only God could orchestrate, several of the students at the school became Christians. Bill and I needed a place to teach them about Jesus. God provided the use of an abandoned church and we helped grow those kids up their faith. I have seen Jesus heal the sick when I pray. I've watched financial miracles provided where there just was no way. I've sat time after time praying with someone as they ask Jesus into his or her heart. That is the "great thing" I can't get over. The changed life that a relationship with Jesus brings.
Linda was the first. Depressed and languishing. She noticed the change in me as I walked through my days at college. We lived in the same dorm. So, she asked: "What happened to you?" "Jesus." My only response. "I need that." Tears sparkling in her eyes. So I told her the great things He'd done for me. The great thing. My salvation. Her spiritual hunger was as obvious as her physical hunger would have been. In dire need of being saved from the aching in her heart. "Do you think He will come into my life, too?" Desperation for something to fill the void that made her eyes hollow and her mind swirl. "Yes! He will!" And He did. She asked and received. Then she asked, "Will I still feel this in the morning?" When I came down before breakfast the next day, I stopped by Linda's room to check on her. She hadn't slept. Lay in wide-eyed wonder at the experience of being finally full. "He's still there," she said with a wide smile that lit up her face. Made her eyes twinkle. And He's never left her.
I spoke with a young woman last week about her faith. She said it's private. She only speaks about it with a select few. I understand that she's a relatively new Christian, and I didn't press her on it. But it did make me think how that's possible. To know Jesus, experience a total life change, and not share it. The most wonderful thing in the world has happened to you, and you keep it to yourself. The more I know Him, the more there is to say about Jesus. He is absolutely amazing! I love Jesus more than I can even put into words! Every day, in every way, my God does great things for me. He's allowed me to share Him with hundreds of people over the years and to introduce them to God's ways. And these people are everywhere. All over the world. Living it out just like I am. They may not be talking about me because Jesus changed them, but they are talking about Him! Telling others the great things Jesus has done for them so that others follow Christ because they see a change in someone near.
I want to give the world something to talk about.
Are people talking about you because they see that God has done great things in your life? Of course, we might not know that, but it's a question I asked about myself this morning when I read this. I know people talk about the mistakes I make. I hear about that. Know I'm far from the perfection I seek. But my God has done amazing things in my life to get me to this chair that slips under my dining room table as I write in the sunny morning while hummingbirds flit around the feeder on the back porch. I'm here by God's grace, slathered in mercy, covered in His love and anchored by His peace.
At six years old, I virtually ran down the aisle of our huge Baptist church and told the pastor I wanted to give my life to Jesus. Very young. But I knew Jesus came into my heart to live. Even then. On a retreat several years later when I was in high school, I visited a chapel at Mary Hardin Baylor college by myself. Alone there, in the bright warm sunlight of south Texas, God met me. A ray of light I can still feel on my face warmed the space around me. It was there I told the Lord I'd go wherever He sent me. Thinking I'd be a missionary, maybe. I am. We all are. Here I am in California by the beach.
In college, disturbed by doubts, needing adult answers to hard questions about faith, I challenged God to be real to me. Sat for hours in the University of Texas library digging for extra-biblical truth about Jesus. There is quite a cache of it, by the way. Finding myself one night asking Jesus to be the lord of my life, not just my Savior. My first teaching job was in a small town in Texas, Class B high school. By a weird set of circumstances only God could orchestrate, several of the students at the school became Christians. Bill and I needed a place to teach them about Jesus. God provided the use of an abandoned church and we helped grow those kids up their faith. I have seen Jesus heal the sick when I pray. I've watched financial miracles provided where there just was no way. I've sat time after time praying with someone as they ask Jesus into his or her heart. That is the "great thing" I can't get over. The changed life that a relationship with Jesus brings.
Linda was the first. Depressed and languishing. She noticed the change in me as I walked through my days at college. We lived in the same dorm. So, she asked: "What happened to you?" "Jesus." My only response. "I need that." Tears sparkling in her eyes. So I told her the great things He'd done for me. The great thing. My salvation. Her spiritual hunger was as obvious as her physical hunger would have been. In dire need of being saved from the aching in her heart. "Do you think He will come into my life, too?" Desperation for something to fill the void that made her eyes hollow and her mind swirl. "Yes! He will!" And He did. She asked and received. Then she asked, "Will I still feel this in the morning?" When I came down before breakfast the next day, I stopped by Linda's room to check on her. She hadn't slept. Lay in wide-eyed wonder at the experience of being finally full. "He's still there," she said with a wide smile that lit up her face. Made her eyes twinkle. And He's never left her.
I spoke with a young woman last week about her faith. She said it's private. She only speaks about it with a select few. I understand that she's a relatively new Christian, and I didn't press her on it. But it did make me think how that's possible. To know Jesus, experience a total life change, and not share it. The most wonderful thing in the world has happened to you, and you keep it to yourself. The more I know Him, the more there is to say about Jesus. He is absolutely amazing! I love Jesus more than I can even put into words! Every day, in every way, my God does great things for me. He's allowed me to share Him with hundreds of people over the years and to introduce them to God's ways. And these people are everywhere. All over the world. Living it out just like I am. They may not be talking about me because Jesus changed them, but they are talking about Him! Telling others the great things Jesus has done for them so that others follow Christ because they see a change in someone near.
I want to give the world something to talk about.
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