As I slowly awakened to a new day I felt the warm sunshine streaming on my back. I turned over toward the window and opened my eyes as the thought popped into my head, it’s Valentine’s Day! What would the day bring? My husband and I don’t usually celebrate this holiday with fancy gifts, but instead have a quiet dinner to reflect on another year together and in love. Since I wasn’t rushed to wrap a gift or buy a card I kept to my usual routine of reading one of several daily devotionals to see what Jesus had to say to me for the day.
I began with a message from Pastor Joel and Victoria Osteen, Pastors of Lakewood church in Houston, Texas. I love how inspiring Pastor Joel is, how he focuses on God’s word as encouragement to each of us. His word today was about God’s love and how we should use it to reach out and meet the needs of others.
“If anyone has this world’s goods (resources for sustaining life) and sees his brother and fellow believer in need, yet closes his heart of compassion against him, how can the love of God live and remain in him? Let us not love [merely] in theory or in speech but in deed and in truth.”
1 John 3:17-18, AMP. |
Suddenly I felt the Holy Spirit speaking to me, encouraging me to go out and bless someone on this day of love – Valentine’s Day. I prayed for God’s guidance in this and felt Him telling me to go pay for someone’s gas, perhaps a single mom struggling to pay the bills or a young couple barely getting by. I then prayed God would arrange this “divine appointment” for me as I went about my tasks and errands that morning.
Several hours later I was finally on my way to the gas station. As I drove I was really nervous about how I would find someone to bless; would it be awkward, or perhaps even dangerous to just hang out and wait by the gas pumps and then approach someone? But I was confident that God would bring the right person, someone who needed His love and blessing.
As I got out of my car, there at the next pump was an older model jeep Cherokee with two little girls inside. Within moments their mom came out of the store. She was about 30 yrs. old, very pretty. I asked her if she had already paid for her gas because I would like to buy it for her. She looked at me nervously and said she had just paid the attendant $10.00 cash for gas because that’s all the money she had. I told her to go ahead and put the $10.00 of gas in her tank and then I would fill her tank the rest of the way. She was amazed and asked why I would do this as she hugged me. I told her that as I was reading a devotional that morning God told me to go bless someone on Valentine’s Day and pay for their gas. She was so grateful! As tears began to flow she shared that she and her husband were going through a separation and it had been rough. She told me her name was Megan and that she and her girls attended the church just down the street. I was happy to know that she was a Believer and told her I would pray for her and her girls.
As I drove away I just felt SO wonderful that God had used me like this! I thought of other words I wished I had said to her such as “God wants you to know how much He loves you today.” But I prayed and told God, “Even though I may not have done or said the perfect things, I still did it!” I prayed that God would speak to Megan even then and tell her that He loved her.
What an awesome way to glorify God! I know Megan was touched by God’s love and felt His grace upon her and knew that she would share her blessing with others. Praise Him from whom ALL blessings flow!
Today may not be Valentine’s Day but every day can be a day that we show God’s awesome love to someone in a practical way. I encourage you to join me in stepping out of your comfort zone each day and bless someone at the gas station, the grocery store, or at your work. You don’t have to spend money to bless someone. Perhaps they just need a kind word or a hug, or just someone to listen. Put your love into action daily and sow seeds that will produce an abundant blessing in your life and in the lives of others!
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