As Assistants, we are pretty accustomed to the quick-change, short-notice nature of our responsibilities. Responding to the ever-changing needs of our world is part of the job and most days the variety and challenge of it all can be fun! But do you ever have days when those changes happen so quickly and so frequently that you end up feeling dizzy? 

Me too.

What about the emotional back-and-forth that can come with those kinds of spins? After all, we don’t just work with keyboards, paper, and mail. We work with people. God’s glorious creation – humankind – who come with troubles, hurts, and really difficult situations. And, as members of that glorious creation ourselves, we can find it pretty weighty to carry our own hardships along with those we are exposed to as we walk through life together.

Recently, I was asking the Lord to help me navigate a day that was filled with unexpected twists and turns. Since this is His work that He has invited me into, I asked Him to show me the way through. Rather than give me strategy or tips on how to pray or even a 3-step plan, He gently whispered, “Embrace the moment you are in right now.”

Well, Lord, that sounds remarkably like the message on that cute little sign I recently saw at Hobby Lobby. 

Before I could dismiss the thought as my own rather than encouragement from on High, He pressed in a little. Embrace the moment you are in right now. Embrace it. Pause with it. Allow yourself to fully experience…

• Joy over the news of a new life brought into the world.
• Excitement to know that far-away family have decided to visit.
• Quiet grief over the realization that today is the anniversary of a loved one’s home-going.
• Prayers for the safety of the first responders who just rushed by and for those they are hurrying to help.
• Compassion for the caller who has reached out – once again – to complain, blame, and find fault.
• Appreciation for those you work alongside who arrive with smiles on their faces.

Let’s be honest, we can experience all of these situations within a matter of moments. And the swings of happiness and sadness can reel much wider into more profound emotions depending on the situation. And, if I’m still being honest, I prefer a long stay in Camp Pleasant, where the news is always happy and laughter fills the day. Where I can build a fire and make s’mores. Where the breezes are refreshing, the sunsets are beautiful, and the mosquitoes are far away along with anything else that ruins my joy-filled little corner of the world.

But I digress…

Camp Pleasant is a beautiful place but so is Difficulty Drive. I know, none of us believe that when we are there. But it is true. There are things that we learn on Difficulty Drive that become just as beautiful and heart-filling as the gifts we receive at Camp Pleasant. And what I am learning is this: both are beautiful gifts when we pause to embrace the moments that deliver those gifts. Embracing deep pain helps me revel in deep joy. Pausing to allow grief to do its work allows me to walk with genuine compassion. Allowing myself the time to fully experience the moment – whatever it looks like – opens my hands to the gift that my Father has for me…right now…in this moment.

So, if we serve a loving God…

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.
Psalm 107:1

…and He gives good gifts out of His never-changing goodness…

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
James 1:17

…then we can embrace each situation and trust Him with it for our good…

…being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Philippians 1:6

So go ahead and embrace the moment you are in right now. Is it joy? Then laugh to your heart’s content! Is it frustration? Tell the Lord every detail! Is it sorrow? Break out the box of tissues and let it all out! Is it peace? Then breathe deeply and receive His calm. In fact, breathe it ALL in and receive ALL that He has given you. Our Father’s gifts are intended to be received, enjoyed, and experienced…for His glory…for our good…and as precious reminders that…

You are adored.

In this particular ministry role, we can frequently hear of struggle. From church family to fellow staff, it is an honor to be trusted by others with the pain they are walking through. The trust they place in us to listen, show compassion, and pray with them is something we can never take lightly. Our hearts must always be tender toward the people whom the Lord allows to cross our path each day.

Think of a time when the tables were turned. A time when you were walking through something that was heavy, dark, and so immense you couldn’t see around it to the hope that you hoped was on the other side. Take a moment to place yourself in that memory. Take a moment to remember how it felt. How it affected your thoughts, vision, and faith. Now take a moment to remember the courage it took to give voice to that situation. Even with a trusted friend, it can be a vulnerable place for us. All of us.

Personally, I believe this is a pivotal place for believers. To speak or not to speak – to trust or not to trust – that is the question. Do we continue to carry this burden alone in the effort to protect our hearts from the potential of additional pain that comes from judgment or betrayal of trust? Or do we take the Lord’s word to heart and act on it – trusting Him to provide the wisdom, counsel, comfort, and understanding of the Holy Spirit through the people He has surrounded us with? Yeah, it can feel risky.

Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
Galatians 6:2

Having wise people in our lives is a blessing for many reasons. Likewise, operating in the Lord’s wisdom carries a weighty responsibility. When we carry troubles with others, we have a unique opportunity to help them feel seen as we come alongside them in the journey and stay until God’s work is done. It is a tangible way to love the hurting. It is a tangible way to be the family of God by loving someone – protecting their trust – in the same way we will one day need loved, and our trust protected. 

Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor;
if either of them falls down, one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up…
Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
Ecclesiastes 4:9, 10 & 12

So we walk in the high honor as carriers of the Lord’s love and holders of others’ trust. We listen. We hold hands. We offer tissues. We ask questions. And we walk with our friend – sometimes carrying them – to the throne room of God and ask Him to move as only He can. We pray for them when they can’t find the words. We anoint them with oil and ask God to refuel their faith. And we do it as many times as it takes to build them up according to their needs, so they are lifted by the truth of God (Ephesians 4:29); to remind them that the Lord is faithful to complete what He has started. And one day when we are the one who needs carried, we can trust the Lord to bring wise and trustworthy people of His House to remind us….

You are adored.

Ahh, summer! The kids are out of school, the pools are teeming with people, and the smell of sunscreen is in the air. People are officially switching gears to Summer Mode.

As Executive and Administrative Assistants, though, our work doesn’t stop just because the temperatures are rising. Ministry continues to happen 24/7 with camps, retreats, picnics, and practical needs in our community. We might not have an all-out vacation pace during the summer months, but we do have a different pace. 

Embracing that difference can feel clunky and lead to misplaced enthusiasm to fill the calendar with new projects or strategy meetings to launch strong in the fall. Don’t misunderstand me, while strategizing is a very good and necessary practice, so is rest! In fact, if we don’t take time to rest when the opportunities present themselves, we will find ourselves with nothing to give when the fuller season arrives. And knowing the tendencies of most Assistants to go, go, go, I think it is actually strategic to acknowledge the importance of pausing and embracing a differently paced season. Apparently, it doesn’t always come naturally to us!

As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat,
summer and winter, day and night will never cease.
Genesis 8:22

There will always be something more to do; we are never fully finished with our work. And with our creative and proactive minds, we typically dig up something that needs our attention on the rare occurrence that there is a lull in the day. The Lord has invited us into His work – what a blessing! But He never intended it to consume us. In fact, He designed us to include rest in the daily, weekly, and yearly rhythms of life. We are not designed for work or rest; we are designed for work and rest.

There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God;
for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works,
just as God did from his.
Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest,
so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.
Hebrews 4:9-11

I am one of those people to whom this does not come naturally. Somewhere along the line I learned the unhealthy, dare I say unholy, rhythm of no rhythm. I learned to go, press, and push myself right past any healthy versions of perseverance and straight into sickness. As I began to listen to the Lord about this, it became increasingly obvious that treating myself, a creation of Almighty God, in this abusive way was actually sinful. Imagine my sadness when I realized that the very actions I thought were honoring to the Lord – hard work and discipline – were causing Him grief because I was not including the action of rest.

Following my vacation last week, it was this train of thought that prompted my prayer points for us this week:

• That we would see the Lord’s graciousness to us.
• That we would recognize opportunities to rest and take them without guilt or attempt to fill them.
• That we would reach the end of our ministry day and be grateful, pleased, and rewarded with what our Father has entrusted to us for that day.
• That we would be present with those in front of us – fully embracing the holiness of the moment.
• That we would place our faith in our Father and trust that the results He brings are within His good plan for us and those we love.

Maybe you have learned the life-filled rhythm of working hard and resting well. Maybe this isn’t a struggle for you. I praise God for that! Or perhaps like me, you are still finding your way through the clunky balance of it all. I praise God for that too! The beautiful thing about being His beloved creation is His presence with us. As the Lord walks with us through the discovery of life-giving rhythms, He is faithful to complete what He has started. He does it for our good and His glory.

So keep your eyes open for opportunities for coffee with a friend, an evening walk, or leisurely morning. Pause at the end of your workday and thank God for all that He accomplished through you that day. Watch the sun set. Write a letter. Smell the flowers. Paint a picture. Blow bubbles. Laugh. Each moment we take to include rest in our day is a moment that makes our Father smile. 

You are adored.

It is celebration season! Graduations from kindergarten, eighth grade, high school, and college. Holidays. Weddings. Here in Colorado, we are even throwing parties simply because the temperatures rose above freezing!

Yet, with some of our recent local and national tragedies, we might not feel like celebrating. Laughter in the midst of a painful season might feel awkward or inappropriate. Do we dishonor those in pain – or those who have been lost – by gathering with friends and loved ones? The Lord has something to say about this.

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
Ecclesiastes 3:1, 4

The Lord designed us for compassion and created us with emotions. He has purpose for both. As we have compassion for those around us who are grieving, we are called to weep with them. We sit with them. We pray for them. And then we sit with them some more. In those deeply difficult times, we have a holy assignment of ministering compassion and hope to the hurting by simply being with them. Why? So they too can experience God’s hope in the midst of the unthinkable. However, it is not something that can be rushed; time is a necessary component to grief. Beware, though, that we are not designed to camp there. Grief is not the destination; it is the hallway to restored hope.

A cheerful heart is good medicine,
but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
Proverbs 17:22

A cheerful heart can prevent prolonged grief from developing into crushing despair. Allowing ourselves to embrace times of joy – even in the midst of profound pain – is a necessary part of the grieving and healing process. “A time for everything” looks like “being fully present where we are,” and allowing the Lord’s work within us. By walking through each step rather than attempting to take the express train to the end – which, by the way, never works – we also testify to the Lord’s faithfulness through the journey. And with each step, we find ourselves surrounded by a growing number of witnesses to the Lord’s goodness! 

Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter,
and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.”
Genesis 21:6

***

Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy.
Then it was said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.”
Psalm 126:2

If you are in a season of difficulty – if loss is weighing heavy or grief greets you each day – please let me encourage you to shake off the misplaced guilt of welcoming joy. Embrace the moments of lament and embrace the moments of laughter. Welcome friends and family into both spaces. Go ahead and enjoy a BBQ. Allow yourself to try, and realize that the celebration might feel differently than before, but it doesn’t mean you have to skip it altogether. If you aren’t the one grieving, welcome a struggling loved one who is. Simply being in the presence of joy can give hope. Love and understanding from the happy and the heartbroken helps all of us through the hallway of grief and into restored hope. Together, we are the family of God, the God who does great things for us. And His whisper is always…

You are adored.

Last week a friend and I spent three wonderful days at a conference in Las Vegas. It was a sweet time of meeting new people in our field and reconnecting with old friends from around the country. This is the only conference in the nation that is geared specifically toward Executive Assistants in ministry, so time spent is rich! It may go without saying that, being geared for people in this role, days are scheduled to maximize every moment. They do a great job of balancing training with fun activities, but our brains were still swimming by the end of Day Three and we were ready to get home.

But Las Vegas didn’t want to let us leave.

Have you ever felt like you are walking in sand? Each step appears to be one of forward movement but the ground beneath your feet is slippery. Traction doesn’t really happen on sand the way it does on solid ground so forward movement is slower. Well, the Las Vegas airport seemed to be just such a desert for us!

While we were boarded with our fellow 198 passengers, we were alerted that a missing screw had to be replaced on the aircraft before the FAA would allow us to take off. Fair enough. So we sat chatting away, sending Marco Polos, and checking social media while waiting for the trusty maintenance crew to work their magic. Social media and news reports were keeping us all up to date on the fires happening around our hometown but we never dreamed one of them would close down the Colorado Springs airport. Yep, no flights in or out…including ours…still sitting at the gate.

So all 200 of us paraded out of the plane with instructions to stay close for next steps. What followed is too confusing to share in detail. Suffice it to say flight #1 was canceled, flight #2 was booked for the following day, flight #2 was traded for flight #3 and booked for later that night to a different city in Colorado. And then promptly delayed 4 times. As we sat at dinner, my adrenaline zapped, I transparently told Amy that I felt like crying. We paused to thank God for our food and these words fell out of my mouth, “Thank you, Father, that you know exactly where we are, and will get us exactly where we need to be, at the exact time we need to be there.”

In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.
Proverbs 16:9

I would love to say that prayer was a direct result of my faith rising up in defiance of the odds we had faced – that I triumphantly declared and decreed the truth – that I was confident in God’s plan for us that day. But I hadn’t, and I didn’t, and I wasn’t. Yet the truth of scripture had bubbled up in the middle of an airport restaurant and the Spirit within me spoke what my mind couldn’t in that moment of frustration.

I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
Psalm 119:11

After years of walking with the Lord, His truth has been consistently tucked away in my heart. Little by little. Year after year. And in that moment of frustration, His truth emerged to remind my mind of His care over us. The Lord tucked us away in that terminal, perfectly safe, with everything we needed, and even gifted us with laughter along the way. He provided for all that we needed in His perfect timing. Honestly, I still don’t understand His timing that day! But I do know that He loves His girls and only has good gifts for us. 

Do you feel like you’ve been walking in sand? Just can’t get the traction needed to take you where you want to be? Do you feel like you are wasting precious time on silly little distractions that are tripping you up? Let me assure you that the Lord sees you, knows where you need to be, and will get you there at the perfect time. Let His Spirit bubble out and speak truth over you and your situation. Let Him remind your mind of His care over you. Because He is a loving Father, omniscient God, and with every step wants you to know that…

You are adored.

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you
with power through his Spirit in your inner being,
so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.
And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,
may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people,
to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,
and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled
to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Ephesians 3:16-19

This is the scripture that Pastor Brady opened First Wednesday service with this week. As we worshipped and prayed through the evening, I felt impressed that many of us are getting weary of the fight. We’ve battled consistently and with perseverance, with honor and the Lord by our side. But now, some of us are on a knee, with our shield of faith poised to protect us while we try to catch our breath.

I believe the Lord wants you to know that it is alright to catch your breath. He has your back. He has hemmed you in before and behind. You are secure. You are fighting with expertise, but it is hard and it requires you to pause and breathe deeply from time to time. This is not a sign of weakness but one of wisdom. You cannot fight without the breath of the Holy Spirit filling your lungs and giving you strength.

So, breathe deeply and remember that you are not only rooted in love, you are established in love by Him. Why? So you may have power to grasp how immense Christ’s love is for you and know beyond a show of doubt that He fills you with His Spirit to accomplish what He has entrusted to you. 

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine,
according to his power that is at work within us,
to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations,
for ever and ever! Amen.
Ephesians 3:20

So take a deep breath, wipe the sweat from your face, straighten your armor, and take confidence that He will finish what He started – in, through, and with you. His ways are wildly more than we can imagine. And He is wildly in love with you!

You are adored.

A kind gentleman recently asked me to share my story with him. He had heard from someone else that I’d had some pretty rough experiences and wanted to “get it from the source.” I’ve always been an open book when it comes to my past so I wasn’t surprised that a mutual friend shared a snippet. The Lord has been kind and gracious to me over the years and it is my delight to tell others of His faithfulness, so I gladly shared some of those stories and answered his questions. After an hour of conversation, he shook his head and asked, “So after all of that, how did you come to be the executive assistant to the senior pastor of a megachurch in Colorado Springs?!”

Well, let me tell you about my Jesus! 

We all have dreams about our future. As a little girl, my friends had aspirations of being a doctor or an astronaut. Some wanted to be a cowgirl or racecar driver. I wanted to be a wife and mom. Sometimes I would get teased that “anyone can be that,” but that was my dream and I stuck to it….sometimes adding the role of teacher to the list.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord,
“plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Jeremiah 29:11

So when life took unexpected turns, those dreams began to dwindle. Rather than reaching for the stars, I found myself keeping my head down. Honestly, some days were about making it to the end of the day – not dreaming about days to come. As sad as that is, what I discovered was the presence of the Lord with me. He was with me in the early days of dreaming and the later days of setting those dreams aside. It was training ground for me to learn that despite what I see around me, the Lord is always with me. It was an opportunity to discover that I was stronger than I thought because He gives me strength. It was an opportunity to realize to the very depths of my soul that He has a good plan for my life. Despite what I see around me.

Have you ever wondered how you got here? Have you ever wondered how life’s twists and turns brought you to the place you are now? Perhaps it is exactly where you hoped, and it is a delight to be present in this time. Perhaps it is unexpected and disappointing – wondering if the Lord remembers those dreams He placed in your heart. I have good news for you…

Nothing is wasted.

God is the expert at using the unexpected and making something beautiful out of it. He is the Restorer and Healer. Our God is mighty to save and abundant in love. He is God with us. As we surrender to Him, He weaves situations and orchestrates time for our good and for His glory. He uses it all!

Trust in the Lord withal your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.
Proverbs 3:5-6

And He reminds us of our identity. We are not what we do. Instead, He uses who we are to bless others with what we do. The enemy would like to convince us that our identity is wrapped up in our responsibilities. It is a web we can easily get tangled up in. We need to shake off that web and remind him of Whose we are. Our identity is a child of God, submitted to His lordship, trusting in His good plan, and walking in His authority with anything He places in our hands. That is a great place to be!

The next time you look through the pictures of your past, remember to look for the Lord there too. If you find yourself discouraged with where you are now, remind yourself of His faithfulness. He is a good Father who knows and sees you. Take heart and trust His love over you. Be encouraged that He is with you in the fights and the victories; in the known and unknown; in the anticipated and unexpected. And His whisper over you will always be…

You are adored.

Faith in the face of the impossible. That’s where my mind seems to camp leading up to Easter. 

As I read the story, I am strangely encouraged that even Jesus’ closest friends, the ones whom he told what would happen, still lost faith, hope, and belief. They knew … but they didn’t know. And the intense circumstances leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus caused so much fear and confusion that they missed what Jesus tried so lovingly to prepare them for. 

What would the story be like – what could we learn – if the disciples had been able to put the dots together and spent those three days praying, encouraging, and telling the world, “Just wait. It isn’t over yet!”? What if, instead of hiding, one of them emerged from the group and shined a light of understanding on what had become hidden and forgotten? What if….

But that’s not how it happened. 

Instead, the One who had been heralded in the streets just days before, became the subject of hate, betrayal, mockery, violence, and murder. A complete turnaround by a terrified and fickle people with short memories. Would I have had faith in the face of the impossible? Would I have been gracious or competitive at the supper table? Would I have stayed awake to pray through the night? Would I have been loving in the face of betrayal? Would I have healed an enemy knowing they would lead me to my own flogging? Would I have been brave and claimed my Savior as my friend in the face of accusation? Would I have stayed at the cross to pray while my beloved was tortured? Would I have had faith in the face of the impossible?

Of course, I would like to think that I would. But the honest truth is that my faith probably would have been shaken just like the disciples were. I have the benefit of retrospect – I know how it ends – and still there are days when my faith struggles in the face of my own trials. In my less-than-best days, I am prone to wonder if Jesus is aware of my situation. Yes, similar to Jesus’ disciples, I am human despite my love for Him.

And because He knows that we are prone to wander, the Lord has graciously given us example after example of humanity alongside holiness; He shows us that we are not alone in our humanity while showing us how to become more like Him. Failure and forgiveness. Weakness and strength. While we are being changed from grace to grace, we are still growing. We haven’t arrived yet. We won’t be perfected until we are in His presence. And, praise God, that doesn’t disappoint our Father. He is in it with us. He delights in walking with us. And while He loves us too much to leave us to our own devices, He isn’t deterred by our humanity. What a loving God!

So, as I reflect this Easter season on what Jesus has done for me, I continue to grow my faith in the face of the impossible. With each triumph and trial, walking toward deeper maturity knowing that He is with all of us. He reminds us of what He has done; He reminds us that He is trustworthy. He encourages us up the path of faithfulness with love. And He is always whispering…

You are adored.

op·​po·​si·​tion | \ ˌä-pə-ˈzi-shən  \

: hostile or contrary action or condition
: something that opposes

Opposition comes regularly to those of us who live on planet Earth; occasional instances of resistance to our assignments. It is annoying and irritating, and it is human nature to be unsettled by it. Many times a reminder of the truth can be a helpful pep talk …..

Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.
Psalm 42:5

As Christ-followers we know that opposition is part of the walk. Resistance builds strength and endurance, and we often “pull ourselves up by our bootstraps” and carry on, knowing that our God reigns. But have you ever been in a season of opposition when you’ve needed something deeper than a good reminder? A time of continual contending for what you know to be true in the face of a demonstrated lie? A season when it is hard to catch your breath between the hits? Let’s be honest, it is exhausting – frustrating – discouraging – overwhelming – and we usually find that this is when the earnest prayers begin….

My soul is downcast within me;
therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan,
the heights of Hermon – from Mount Mizar.
Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers have swept over me.
By day the Lord directs his love,
at night his song is with me – a prayer to the God of my life.
Psalm 42:6-8

When we spend longer periods of time fighting for what we know is true – travailing for truth – we discover the God-given grit within us. As we are transparent with the Lord, He gives us a plan. And while we are being honest, let’s also address the fact that it seems like a strange plan. This plan doesn’t look like the battle strategy that we are expecting. No, God’s plan – His battle strategy – is to remember and praise. In the midst of the slug-fest with the enemy, we begin to remember what God has done in the past – His character and promises – and something happens. Renewed faith rises up. As our faith is strengthened, our backs are straightened, and we remind the enemy of our souls who our God is. We declare His goodness and faithfulness out loud. We bear down in a oh-no-you-don’t kind of belief that summons strength we forgot, or didn’t even know, we had. With each memory and declaration, we put our hope in God, praise Him, and KNOW THAT OUR GOD REIGNS with a deeper conviction.

In pure transparency, I have been in a season of opposition for what feels like a very long time and I suspect I’m not alone. Most days I am able to recognize that my battle is against principalities, powers, darkness, and wickedness. But on other days, well, I’m short-sighted and find myself focusing on the people and situations rather than my Father who IS and HOLDS the victory. After all, it is His presence with me in this long season that is the blessing, not necessarily the circumstances turning in my favor.

Have you found yourself in a similar pattern? Feeling overwhelmed by the magnitude of one more thing being added to your shoulders? Let me encourage you to remind your soul of the Lord’s waterfalls that roar with the calls of deep to deep. Allow His waves of truth and refreshing to sweep over you, fully engulfing your weariness and giving you renewed faith in Him. Allow Him to demonstrate His love for you by day and sing over you at night. This is our prayer to the God of our lives. And His loving response will always be…

You are adored.

Have you ever been surprised by kindness? The recipient of a random act of kindness? Perhaps your child made a Cheerio necklace just for you, or a total stranger anonymously paid for your meal. Do you remember the feeling that followed the realization that someone simply wanted to bless you?

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved,
clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
Colossians 3:12

As the recipient of such kindness, we are reminded that:

• It is refreshing to be seen, encouraged, and loved.
• The Lord uses His people to tangibly share His goodness.
• Even the smallest act of kindness can make a huge difference in a person’s day.
• Receiving kindness sparks a desire to offer it to others.

Personally, I’ve found that those first three points act as fuel to point four. When we are reminded of how loved we are by our Father, it compels us to remind others of how loved they are too! We find ourselves looking for ways to bless others. So, I’ll ask this: when was the last time you accepted the Lord’s invitation to surprise someone with kindness? Maybe you cooked a favorite meal for someone or anonymously left a kind note on their desk. Do you remember the feeling that followed the realization that you were used by God to bless that person in a tangible way?

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control;
against such things there is no law.
Galatians 5:22-23

The fruit of the Spirit comes dressed in actions of kindness. A kind smile, warm hug, or encouraging word goes a long way in a person’s heart. Chances are that you do this more than you realize simply because you are the Lord’s agent of love. And as you walk through your day, He strategically places you in situations to reflect His love to others – one kind act after another.

Above all, keep loving one another earnestly,
since love covers a multitude of sins.
1 Peter 4:8

Lord, fill us with your Spirit. Spotlight the ones you have placed before us that need the refreshing of your love dressed in kind actions. May we be the carriers of your grace that invites everyone into your presence so that, together, we may hear your loving whisper….

You are adored.