| Good morning everyone, Our theme for this month: “Fully Alive” Our Bible verse for today: “In every way I’ve shown you that it is necessary to help the weak by laboring like this and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, because he said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Acts 20:35 (CSB) Our thought for today: “It feels good to know you are needed” This past Sunday evening the teenagers in our church gave us a report about their recent mission trip. They spent a week working at a Salvation Army center in Wilmington, NC. The site includes a homeless shelter, feeding center, thrift store, and more. Our teens spent the week assisting the staff in a variety of capacities. Looking at their pictures and listening to their stories as they enthusiastically told us about their adventure reminded me of the truth that mission trips change lives. Mission trips are often mountaintop experiences and the people who go on them end up receiving much more than they gave. It proves the words of Jesus recorded in Acts 20:35 that is more blessed to give than to receive. This is what He meant. It feels good to help others. Doing so leaves you feeling like you accomplished something meaningful which helped to make someone else’s life better. And as a result, you feel good about yourself. That’s your blessing for blessing someone else. It’s a basic truth about our human nature that we feel more fully alive when we feel like we are needed. Knowing that we made a difference in someone else’s life makes us feel good about ourselves. In his book “Fully Alive” author Tim Shriver said that this sense of feeling needed is what gives him so much joy working with special needs children and adults through the Special Olympics organization which he leads. Tim says that his friends in that community always make him feel loved, appreciated, and needed. And he says that he always ends his time with them feeling like he received much more than he gave. He went to be a blessing, but he ended up being the one who was blessed. That’s the experience our teenagers were relating in their presentation last Sunday. If you want to feel more fully alive just go out, find a need, and meet it. The more you do that, the more fully alive you will feel. It feels good to know you are needed. God Bless, Pastor Jim |
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Amen.
Please keep my 3 yr old grandson Eli in your prayers. He had a stroke while in his mommas womb and it has left him on medications to deal with seizures. He has scar tissue in his brain and there is a spot where there is no matter where there should be matter. His momma Kimmie was crying today. They are at the hospital. He was all of a sudden, after 2 years with no seizures, having them again. They had a hard time controlling them. Now they are upping his medicines. Oh, please, believe with me for a complete miracle. And please pray for his mom and dad. This is so hard on them. Kim is by herself with Eli at hospital because of covid regulations. Eli’s dad, Gary, has to be at home with their 3 other children, one of whom is a 6 month old baby.
Thanks for prayers!
I will pray. And I understand exactly what they are dealing with. The situation you have described with Eli is almost identical to what our daughter Tracy suffered from.
Thank you.