EVERYTHING THAT HAS HAPPENED

Today's reading: Philippians 1-2

"And I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the Good News. For everyone here, including all the soldiers in the palace guard, know that I am in chains because of Christ. And because of my imprisonment, many of the Christians here have gained confidence and become more bold in telling others about Christ." Philippians 1:12-14 NLT

Oh friend, today I pray that we can all look deeply enough with God-lenses to see that everything that has happened in our lives has helped to spread the love of Christ.

The good things--like a family legacy of Christianity and devotion to the Lord, raising children who know and serve the Lord, participation in godly ministries and outreaches and how we have remained faithful and true to God. Blessings, privileges, God-sized miracles placed smack dab in the middle of your life.

But also, the bad things--how we have overcome tough times in faith, the times when our mission fields were waiting rooms and doctors' offices, the moments when we came to the end of ourselves but found He was more than enough to carry us through and the stormy seasons we've endured. Things you didn't like, didn't want, would never ask for and certainly would not want to repeat in a million years!

Maybe, like me, you've not used each and every one of those opportunities to share Jesus.

Maybe you did well to make it through.

Maybe it took looking back on some things to give you a perspective to see God in them at all.

Well, that provides new opportunities, now doesn't it?