Psalm 16:11

Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

This would sum up my life at the moment. There is truly so much joy in life when you are living each moment of it not for yourself, but for God.

Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille said, "Nothing is beyond our reach if we will reach beyond ourselves." That couldn't be more true. In John 13:34, Jesus Christ said that we are to love one another as he loves us. We can love others by getting outside of ourselves. Say hi to someone. Ask them how their day is. Whatever you decide, just take a moment to think of others.

I have met so many people since I have been here. I have talked to more new people in just the past month than I have talked to in my whole life (probably). But every single conversation has started with some kind of question or a statement that's personal to them. "Hi! How's your day going?!" or "What book are you reading?" or "That is a really awesome hat, do you mind me asking where you got it?" You would be amazed at how many people have told me that they were so shocked I even said "hi."

What kind of difference can we make in someone's life?

I met a really nice girl at a bookstore a week or so ago. A few days later she was on my heart and so I prayed for her.

The next day I gave her a call. She told me that just the day before she had been in a car accident. Someone rear-ended her and just drove off, leaving some significant damage to her car. But with a thankful tone she informed me that she was not hurt and the damage did not prevent her from being able to drive. She would just need to get her car fixed. I was blessed to hear that she was ok and the overall accident wasn't too impacting. After that I was able to share a verse with her (Philippians 4:19) to encourage her that God would meet her needs in this situation.

She thanked me and that was the end of the conversation.

Later in the week I called her back just to see how she was doing. Again I let her know she was in my prayers and her response was, "Thank you! It is helping too!" And she began to share with me the details of how her needs concerning the car were being taken care of. How awesome is our God?

God works in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13). He can work in you and me to be there with an encouraging word to help uplift someone during their troubled day. We can love others the way Christ loved us by getting outside of ourselves for even a single moment to talk to someone and make their day. And who knows what other doors God will open when you take the time to get to know people. They may have greater situations that we can help them overcome with God and His Word, all by simply asking a question.

Who will you bless today?

Oh the things you see...

when you but open your eyes.


I have noticed so many little things that God has been doing just to bless me, but here's a big one:

Last Monday it was our day off, so Abi and I planned out our day to get some things done and get blessed too. One of those things was laundry: we went to our apartment's laundry facility and while we waited we planned on sitting outside in the beautiful weather and getting in touch with some of our friends and family. So that's what we did. 30 minutes went by and our clothes were ready to dry. Some dryers were empty so we put in the loads we could, but the rest were full - and there was no one around. Another 30 minutes went by - no one came to claim their laundry, but we patiently waited.

Not soon after, the man who services the machines came in and started working on some of them. He did that for a while and then noticed us, having been there the whole time, and asked if we needed to dry any clothes, if so, he would start the machines for us. We mentioned how we were waiting for people to come back and empty the dryers with their stuff in it. The service man then proceeded to take their things out and place them in neat piles on the counter and started the dryers for us to use so we wouldn't have to wait anymore.

One detail that took place before the man came was this: We have to pay for every load, obviously, but we ended up having more loads than we originally thought. By the time we needed to start drying things I looked into my little change box and looked at Abi and just casually mentioned, "I think we only have enough for one more load." (And I knew we had at least three loads to dry.)
That was the extent of my thought on the matter. It didn't occur to me that we wouldn't be able to dry all our clothes. We just kept waiting for the dryers, kept enjoying the company of one another, and God blessed us by this man and his generosity to start the dryers for us - for free.

God provided for us, and He can and will provide for you. Be on the look-out :)