Have you ever been caught doing something right? You know, you are just living your life and suddenly someone catches you being charitable? This thread is not meant for bragging, only for encouragement. I believe that we tend to focus too much on our failures and not enough on the times that we actually demonstrate Christ's work in our hearts. All the glory goes to God, of course. I think it might be encouraging to read some stories of victory.
Here is a small victory that really impacted me and the youth group I was working with at the time. I was driving through my hometown at the time and there was a lot of construction going on and people on the road were frustrated including myself. As I was approaching an uncontrolled intersection, I realized that no one was allowing anyone to make a left turn in front of them and traffic on the other side of the road was back up as a result. For some reason, I stopped and allowed a van to turn in front of me when I got to the intersection. Later that week, one of my more difficult kids in my youth group told me that she had seen me in the town I was living in (the church I worked at was about 60 miles north) when I asked where, she told me about the situation I just described - her and several other kids from the group were in the van. Apparently, they had been waiting for quite sometime before I allowed them to turn. Then she said something interesting - "when I saw you, I knew you would help us." I was really surprised because this person was very devoted to the former youth director - she usually challenged me. From that moment on, our relationship changed.
It was a small grace, but it meant a great deal. It also taught me that everything we do works towards sanctification of our hearts and the hearts of our neighbors.
Here is a small victory that really impacted me and the youth group I was working with at the time. I was driving through my hometown at the time and there was a lot of construction going on and people on the road were frustrated including myself. As I was approaching an uncontrolled intersection, I realized that no one was allowing anyone to make a left turn in front of them and traffic on the other side of the road was back up as a result. For some reason, I stopped and allowed a van to turn in front of me when I got to the intersection. Later that week, one of my more difficult kids in my youth group told me that she had seen me in the town I was living in (the church I worked at was about 60 miles north) when I asked where, she told me about the situation I just described - her and several other kids from the group were in the van. Apparently, they had been waiting for quite sometime before I allowed them to turn. Then she said something interesting - "when I saw you, I knew you would help us." I was really surprised because this person was very devoted to the former youth director - she usually challenged me. From that moment on, our relationship changed.
It was a small grace, but it meant a great deal. It also taught me that everything we do works towards sanctification of our hearts and the hearts of our neighbors.
