Being Bold

Good Morning!

    I trust you have all had a good week and are keeping warm on this chilly winter morning.  I heard the snowplow scraping our street at 1 and again at 4, so I was slightly disappointed to see that we had a mere dusting of snow on the ground this morning. So much for our winter storm, but of course, we got the cold temps. May be a good day to stay inside. I already have ham and beans in the crockpot and though I have a couple of errands to run, I am staying in as much as possible today.

Last Sunday night, we had a discussion at church about being bold.  I took it to heart and it has been a goal for this week. We were talking about the fact that we have some Christian young people in our community that are very bold in their beliefs and they are actually showing some of us that have been Christians for many years up. I was also fueled by one of the DJs on Sirius XM the Message. She was telling how, as a child, her mother was one of those people who would walk up to complete strangers and tell them about Jesus. Ashley Till told how this embarrassed her as a child, but now admires her mom for her confidence in Christ.

I decided this week to take babysteps in that direction. I am a firm believer that action speak at least as loud as words so I decided to start by making more eye contact and speaking first. I have been going to my gym faithfully since 2017. There are many of us that know each other without ever really speaking, but we will nod at each other as we pass and maybe a quick "good morning". I am a little hesitant about speaking to the newbies, and I decided this week, I would speak to everyone I encountered in the locker room as well as on the floor. I have succeeded. I haven't always gotten a reply back, but I do it anyway. It is a far cry from telling people about Jesus, but it is a start. 

Contrary to popular belief, when we are at the gym, I will tell you, nobody is really paying any attention to what anyone else is doing. I have never once been on the treadmill and looked down the row to try to figure out what someone was watching on tv, but I will tell you, if someone would ever do that to me, they will see I have two favorite treadmills. The ones that are directly in front of the screens for TV5. It is the History Channel, but from 5:30-6, when I am on the treadmill, it is a paid program by Doctor  David Jeremiah. I love watching and listening to his messages, it is an extra umph to my devotional, Bible Reading and prayer that I do on my way to the gym. 

So, I set my first goal as, "if I am still working up the courage to talk to people about Jesus, the least I can do is show them Jesus through my actions." 

I have also been trying to  be better about letting people know I am thinking about them.  As I see people struggling, I have put them on my prayer list. I have had a friend in the last few weeks make a couple of fb posts that made me think they were going through a storm. I started praying for them and when the opportunity arose, I told them I had been praying for them. They thanked me, let me know things really were alright, but I am still praying for them, I feel it is what I am supposed to do. 

That leads me to one little caveat. Don't tell someone you are going to pray for them unless you intend to do it. If I tell someone on facebook that I am praying for them, I stop right there and pray for them. Remember, God listens to everything you say, he doesn't wait for the "Hey God" cue, like you have to do with Alexa, he hears it all.  It doesn't have to be some elaborate long prayer, it takes literally seconds to ask God to be with them, protect them and help get them through this storm. 

So, today, as I am working on my journey to be that person that tells strangers about Jesus, I am leaving you with one of my favorite songs. I have probably shared it here before, but it is Anne Wilson's My Jesus. Watch the video, it is the story of how the song really came to be as Anne lost her older brother to a car wreak.

Happy Saturday and have a good week.

P.S. I have decided to one week a month focus on my weight loss journey since I had Gastric Sleeve surgery, next week is the week. See you then!