Verse of the Week:
Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. (Ephesians 4:32 NIV)
Chapter 8 Video Links (From Her Green Room):
Here we are at week 8. This journey is coming close to an end together as a group, but I pray that God is making some things real in your life through this book that will continue to guide you on your own personal journeys.
There were some great things in this chapter. Since I trust that you are all reading the book, I am going to take this post in a slightly different direction. I'm going to be a little more transparent than I have been in the past.
Nearly every week of this Bible Study, God has given me personal experiences that have coincided with the chapter we were reading. Some of them I have shared and some of them I haven't. Some I think were for the group, and some I think were for me. All of the real life things have happened each week before I read the chapter. So I didn't know what the chapter was about when these things were happening.
This week God attempted to do this again. He was setting me up for a real life, relateable experience. Something maybe that I could have shared with you ladies. Unfortunately, instead of obeying God, I let my shy, what will the cashier think of me, thought process, keep me from what I believe now would have been an experience that would have changed me in a small way and maybe changed someone else too.
I was in the McDonald's drive through on my way to work one morning. I had an overwhelming urge to pay for the persons meal behind me. I started to speak and just couldn't get the words out of my mouth. The car in front of me pulled out and so I just moved on to the second window.
The woman behind me was in a hurry apparently, because at the light waiting to pull out of the parking lot, she was honking at me to go (when there was way too much traffic to pull out). I had a slight moment where I thought, I wonder if she would have reacted differently had I obeyed the nudging of The Lord.
All of this happened before I read this chapter. Now in hind sight, this was as much a lesson in obedience as it was kindness! It at least has made me realize that I have to live outside the box way more than I do now. I have to put aside my fears and worries in order to live in obedience to God.
All of this happened before I read this chapter. Now in hind sight, this was as much a lesson in obedience as it was kindness! It at least has made me realize that I have to live outside the box way more than I do now. I have to put aside my fears and worries in order to live in obedience to God.
I will be looking for opportunities this week to try again! To find ways a show kindness.
Discussion Questions:
Discussion Questions:
This week, I want to hear your stories! Have you ever committed a random act of kindness? How did it go?
Have you ever been the recipient of a random act of kindness? What happened? How did you respond? Did you "pay it forward"?
What can you do this week to show intentional kindness to others?
Since you asked....
ReplyDeleteI had almost forgotten about this but a few months ago I was at the Walmart by my office at lunchtime getting gas. I had gone in and bought a gift card (to get my .03 discount, of course!) and had thought to myself that I needed to not spend anymore money until I got paid. While I was pumping the gas this kid walked up and I knew as soon as he walked up that he was going to ask for money and I was going to give him some. I can't really explain it but my first thought was that he reminded me of my son, Kyle. They really didn't look anything alike but were probably about the same age. As soon as I saw him all I could think was "God I am so thankful that my kids have never been in the position where they had to ask complete strangers for help." He had a gas can and just asked for a little gas. I told him if he would wait until I filled up my car, I would fill up his gas can. While he waited he told me that he had been put in a children's home north Arkansas (Ponca, I think?) when he was a kid while his mom went into rehab. She died while he was there and he lived there then for several years. It was a Christian home and he said they really helped him a lot. He kept thanking me for being so nice and helping him. I kept thinking that boy should have had a family that would help him. Maybe it was all a story, maybe not. I hope that talking to him and putting that 5 gallons of gas in his can let him know that there are people who care and that he is NEVER forgotten by God.
Oh, I also wanted to say that nobody has ever paid for my food at McDonald's or anything like that but there have been many times when I was discouraged, feeling hopeless, feeling useless, etc. and unexpected kind words from somebody totally turned my day around!
ReplyDelete