The Lord has taught me something today that seems like it should have been so obvious. I've always been sure that we can never know what impact we're going to have on someone - when you care about how they're doing, when you stand up for Christ in class or at work - but we do it because that's what God has called us to do. He doesn't use us because He needs us, or because we're worthy of the call He's predestined us for; no our Father uses us because he chooses to. He knows we're broken and in need of healing, and really can't do anything. But God wants to restore us, and sometimes He does that by working through us to restore others.
What the Lord led me to today was how praying for one person isn't just praying for one life. That life has the opportunity to hurt or heal so many others. It has friends, family, and random strangers who might be needing some grace right now too. So by praying for one person, we're really praying for everyone they'll ever meet as well. As I thought about this, I realized how daunting it seems to be praying for change and transformation for so many. In praying for a single person, there can be so much pain, so much, pain, fear, doubt, question, joy, excitement, empathy, and emotion that it would make anyone want to explode.
Which is why God only tells us about the one. That's all He needs from us. He gives us what we can handle, and then from there does what He can handle -which is everything. When you look at instances where one act has had an enormous impact, it's the not the person who completed that one act, it's all the One who completed the greatest act of all. Nothing can ever beat the love, compassion, mercy, and sacrifice held in the cross of Christ. For a God who nailed our sins to a cross and rose from the dead, nothing is too difficult. I really don't deserve to be a part of His story. But He wants me in it, so here I am.
Lord, thank You for the beauty of the cross in all of its pain. Thank You for taken a broken person like me and healing me through using me to heal others. I'm awestruck by the ways I've seen you working in my life and the lives of others. I pray that You will continue to transform me with Your healing powers so that I can be a faithful servant to You and Your people. I am not worthy to be a part of Your story, the greatest story ever told, and in that knowledge I lay myself down to You to do with as You will. I know I cannot move without You, so I am giving my life to see what You will do in me. I love everything You do and are, Lord. In Jesus' name, Amen.
The God who made the world and everything in it - He is Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in shrines made by hands. Neither is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives everyone life and breath and all things. For from one man He has made every nation of man to live all over the earth and has determined their appointed times and boundaries of where they live, so that they might seek God, and perhaps they might reach out and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. For in Him we live and move and exist. Acts 17:24-28
We have this kind of confidence toward God through Christ: not that we are competent in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves but our competence is from God. 2 Corinthians 3:4-5
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