In times of blessing, be a blessing to others.
In times of trouble, lean into community.
– Scott Stevens
These are the words that stick with me from Pastor Scott’s sermon this past weekend. It makes me wonder, how to we gauge if we are in a time of trouble or a time of blessing? I am sure that anyone reading this blog (myself included) could look at others and see how blessed those people are and feel like we are in a time of trouble compared to them. At the same time, we can look at others who are in a time of trouble and see how truly blessed we are. What are we to do then, standing in the middle?
I say we do both.
We all have a way that we can bless others. Volunteering with students is one of my ways to be a blessing (hopefully). A more tangible way is giving things away. I came across a site some time ago that helps with just that, but I didn’t post anything to it until recently. 2 days after I posted a DVD player that we don’t need, I got a response from someone who lost everything in a fire. As simple as a DVD player is, it will make a huge difference in her life as she gets back into the normal flow of life and back to her studies in ministry.
On the other side of things, I have also had to lean on community recently. If you know me and my family, you probably know that we have had to deal with vehicle issues for some time. Over the past week our van started falling apart and the cost of repairs would be more than the van was worth, so we started looking into other options. Of course the other options seemed to expensive as well, but we continued to pray and we also let our closest friends and family in on what was going on. Through all of this we found a replacement van. The amazing part is that we were given the amount we needed as a down payment to put the monthly payments where we needed them to afford it.
These are just two simple stories in my life that tie into the message from this past weekend. I think you should check out the video from this past weekend (“The Hope Summit” – Part 4) to hear an even more amazing testimony as well as an amazing message from Pastor Scott.
My only comment is “Why do we (me included) react in amazement when God does what we ask?” 🙂
I don’t ever want to not be amazed when He answers. If it weren’t amazing for Him to answer or do anything we ask of Him, what would be the point of asking Him. I see the amazement and standing in awe as an act of worship, recognizing Him as the giver of every breath and and the One who satisfies every need.