I will share about Christian books I have read or listened to.
I will be sharing about my life before and after Christ. I will include stories about my pet and other pets I have encountered.
Created to Love Others
When we believe in Jesus and live our lives following after Him, we get to experience His grace and mercy every day! We get to walk in new life and new ways of thinking about God's creation and our place in it. Not to mention, we can rest knowing we are God's own children!
But it can be just as easy to live life thinking only of ourselves and the good things we have received. Jesus spent most of His ministry helping and assisting others, but if we're being honest—and Jesus was always honest, too—most of us have a tendency to be selfish with God's gifts, or ignore opportunities to serve the weak or needy in our everyday lives.
As Paul was speaking to the leaders at the church in Ephesus in Acts 20:35, he made sure to remind them that his life has not been about himself, but about helping others. Paul says that everything he has done has been about helping those who are weak and in need. Paul didn't say these things to boast about himself, he said them to point back to Jesus as the truest example of love.
While the Christian faith is certainly about loving God, it is also about loving others as well. It is about using our new life in Christ to bring positive change to the lives of others—the same positive change Christ brought about in us.
Jesus said that when we use our life to help others, we end up even more blessed. It is always more blessed to give to others than to receive for ourselves.
Take some time to consider the way your own life has been blessed by others. Then, write down a few ways that you can begin to help others who are in need.
What practical ways can you bless those in your neighborhood, work, or school? Begin to build a habit of being a blessing to others.
The Story God is Writing
Mary had quite the unique journey to motherhood. An unmarried virgin, she carried the Son of God. Mary could have easily felt lonely or isolated, but she was not alone in the story God was writing.
For decades, Mary’s relative Elizabeth and her husband Zechariah prayed and asked God for a child. After many years, God answered their prayers. When an angel told Mary she would give birth to Jesus, the Savior of the world, she went straight to Elizabeth, who was a few months along in her own miraculous pregnancy.
When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting upon her arrival, the baby in her womb leapt and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, exclaiming, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!” (Luke 1:42)
Keep in mind, Mary had only just found out about her pregnancy. It would have been so easy, so understandable to be overwhelmed, afraid, or distressed. Mary had not even yet wed her husband, Joseph. And yet, watch the trust and ...
