Footprints

I asked the ladies if they had any memories of Christmas they would like to share with us from when they were young, Major Ruth shared the time her mum and dad had just moved into a new post, they had no presents for the children, and no food for Christmas. The following day when they opened their front door, on one side of the door was a hamper of food, on the other, presents for the children, someone had left their footprints in this families life, and whilst they would never know who it was, they did know that God had moved someone to help and they had responded. It would be something they would never forget. Other ladies shared poems and little homilies, one of which was:

The U in Jesus

Before U were thought of or time had begun,

God stuck U in the name of His Son.

And each time U pray, you'll see it is true,

You can't spell out Jesus and not include U.

You're a pretty big part of His wonderful name,

For U, He was born; that's why He came. 

And His great love for U is the reason He died.

It even takes U to spell crucified.

Isn't it thrilling and splendidly grand

He rose from the dead, with U in His Plan?

The stones split away, the gold trumpet blew,

And this word resurrection is spelled with a U.

When Jesus left earth at His upward ascension,

He felt there was one thing He just had to mention.

"Go into the world and tell them it's true

That I love them all - just like I love U."

Which is exactly what we all must do. If we have been saved, and know the Lord Jesus then how we treat others should leave footprints that they will see years after we have gone out of their lives.

I did a carbon footprint quiz online scoring 105, as there was nothing to compare it with I’m not sure if it was good or bad, but it seemed good to me. Whilst it is important that we don’t live our lives polluting our planet, the footprints we leave in the lives of others is much more important, because they can have everlasting value.  

Words

24.10.17

I took some small plastic bottles with scrabble letter tiles to the meeting today, the idea being that there were so many words in each bottle and each table of ladies had to arrange the tiles to make the words. I gave them two clues, the first one being, it was to do with scripture, the second, they were to do with Christmas. I also warned them that one of the bottles was a red herring. They did well and with a little help soon had the scripture all set out, the red herring being, be glad and rejoice. All the words put together:

For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulders.

Which of course we can rejoice and be glad about.

We talked about how we must be careful with words, what we read, and what we listen to, and what we speak. The words we speak should be wholesome, they should be words that benefit others, uplift, help, teach, and encourage. That doesn’t mean we can’t have fun with one another, or just sit back and have a natter. But we must remember that the words that we use once they have gone from us cannot be taken back! There will be times when we will have to apologise, there will be times when we speak without thinking first. What does God’s Word say about this?

Ephesians 4:29 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.

If I am telling people that by knowing Jesus, my life has been changed, and is still changing, then I must be aware of Him all the time, and be aware of how I behave and speak. All our experiences will be different of how we came to know the Lord Jesus, and we are all quite different people, with different talents and gifts, but one thing we all have in common we all use words and we should all be aware of our words, our speech. What we say and who we say it to, and we should speak more words of encouragement.

What I read and what I listen to will have an impact on what I speak, God's Word is the most important book we can read, it will build us up, and make it so that our words can be what God wants them to be.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Pray for each other that our words will be wholesome. I know that our desire is that people will now the Lord, particularly our family members. We look around at the world and we wonder how long it will be before the Lord comes back, but it should make us even more urgent and fervent in witnessing, testifying, and living godly lives.