We never know of the trials and tribulations that others are going through
and it is for this reason that we should always be quick to share an 
encouraging word and let those who are down know that it's not the end of
the road for their life. We each struggle at times and it is greatly 
beneficial to our spirits when someone speaks a kind word or gives us a 
compliment for no reason. We find our spirits lifted when others sow 
kindness into our lives and because we know it works for us, we can also 
rest assured that the kindness that we share would also work on them. 

Use every opportunity that you have to share a word of encouragement. It 
may be a simple thing to us, but it may be a spring of water to those who 
are finding themselves in a desert of heaviness. Encourage yourself to 
know that you have the ability to change someone else's life for the 
better. Allow the Lord to use you to minister to that one who is hurting
and in need. You will be blessed far more than the recipient because you
will know that you were used to change a life around. (1 Corinthians 12:26-28)

I really liked reading this story because it shows how anyone can be used
to share a word of encouragement to someone in need. I hope this story 
challenges your heart to open yourself to the Lord and let Him bring great
results through your vessel.


AN UNEXPECTED MOMENT

It was hard to watch her fail. Physically she was growing thinner and more
stooped. Mentally she was losing her ability to sort out reality. 
Initially, my grandmother had railed angrily against the symptoms of 
Alzheimer's disease that were eroding who she had always been.

Eventually, the anger gave way to frustration and then resignation. My 
grandmother had always been a strong woman. She had a career before it was
common for women to have careers. She was independent. In her eighties, 
she was still dragging out her stepladder every spring to wash all the 
windows in her house. She was also a woman with a deep faith in God.

As my grandmother lost her ability to live alone, my father moved her into
his home. Grandchildren and great-grandchildren were often in the house. 
She seemed to enjoy being surrounded by the noise and activity of a large,
extended family.

As she slipped further away from us mentally, my grandmother would 
occasionally have moments of lucidity when she knew where she was and 
recognized everyone around her. We never knew what prompted those moments,
when they would occur or how long they would last.

Toward the end of her life she became convinced that her mother had knit 
everything she owned. “Mama knit my boots,” she would tell strangers, 
holding up a foot clad in galoshes. “Mama knit my coat,” she would say 
with a vacant smile as she zipped up her raincoat. Soon we were putting on
her boots for her and helping her zip up her coat.

During my grandmother's last autumn with us, we decided to take a family 
outing. We packed up the cars and went to a local fair for a day of caramel
apples, craft booths and carnival rides. Grandma loved flowers, so my dad 
bought her a rose. She carried it proudly through the fair, stopping often 
to breathe in its fragrance.

Grandma couldn't go on the carnival rides, of course, so she sat on a 
bench close by and waited while the rest of the family rode. Her moments 
of lucidity were now a thing of the past having eluded her for months, but
she seemed content to sit and watch as life unfolded around her.

While the youngest members of the family ran, laughing to get in line at 
the next ride, my father took my grandmother to the nearest bench. A 
sullen-looking young woman already occupied the bench but said she wouldn't
mind sharing the bench. “Mama knit my coat,” my grandmother told the young
woman as she sat down.

We didn't let my grandmother out of our sight, and when we came back to 
the bench to get her, the young woman was holding the rose. She looked as
though she had been crying. “Thank you for sharing your grandmother with 
me,” she said. Then she told us her story. She had decided that day was to
be her last on Earth. In deep despair and feeling she had nothing to live
for, she was planning to go home and commit suicide. While she sat on that
bench with Grandma as the carnival noises swirled around them, she found 
herself pouring out her troubles.

“Your grandmother listened to me,” the young woman informed us. “She told
me about a time in her own life, during the Depression, when she had lost
hope. She told me that God loved me and that He would watch over me and 
would help me make it through my problems. She gave me this rose. She told
me that my life would unfold just like this rose and that I would be 
surprised by its beauty. She told me my life was a gift. She said she 
would be praying for me.”

We stood, dumbfounded, as she hugged my grandmother and thanked her for 
saving her life. Grandma just smiled a vacant smile and patted her arm. As
the young woman turned to leave, she waved good-bye to us. Grandma waved 
back and then turned to look at us, still standing in amazement.

“Mama knit my hat,” she said.

By Sara L. Henderson


Read and meditate on these scriptures:

Hebrews 10:22-24 “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of
faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies
washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith 
without wavering; (for He is faithful that promised;) And let us consider
one another to provoke unto love and to good works.”

Romans 12:9-10 “Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is 
evil; cleave to that which is good. Be kindly affectioned one to another 
with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another.”

Romans 12:1-2 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, 
that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God,
which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but
be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is
that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

1 John 4:7-11 “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and 
every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not
knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God 
toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that
we might live through Him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that
He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved,
if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.”

Revelation 22:12-14 Jesus declares “And, behold, I come quickly; and my
reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am
Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed
are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of 
life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.”

All of these scriptures can be found in the King James Version Bible.


Today’s Selected Poem: BRIGHTEN YOUR CORNER
Click here to read --- http://www.Godswork.org/inpoem71.htm

Today’s Selected Testimony: STILL LEARNING
Click here to read --- http://www.Godswork.org/testimony16.htm


In Christ’s Service,

Dwayne Savaya
God’s Work Ministry