Hey, Jimmy Dooley here!
As we all are thinking of & talking about the nation of Japan & the terrible disaster they have suffered, many of us seem to have more of a mentality in our mind of reaching out & helping others. I have heard a lot of comments made in the last few weeks about helping to “change our world”, truly this is an opportunity to do that & I’m thankful for everyone who is, but I’m realizing more & more that God gives us opportunities to “change the world” everyday & so often we miss them.
Not too long ago God started changing my way of how I looked at the world around me everyday. I use to wake up & my prayer was something like this, “Lord guide me today, open doors in my life, protect me & my family… etc.” There is nothing wrong with praying a prayer like this, but perhaps I was missing the bigger picture? One day I just by coincidence happened to see this movie called “To Save A Life”, it really changed the way I look at life & people. I realized that so many times I was consumed by what was going on in my life that I was missing opportunities that God was putting in front of me to help hurting people I’m around all the time.
So I started praying a prayer something like this, “Lord help me today to be your hands extended to those around me, use me to make a difference in someone’s life, help me to be the change in another person’s life today.” You know what happened when I started my day that way my eyes opened up to see a world that I go through everyday that is hurting & broken looking for love & hope that we can offer them in Jesus. Sometimes we think we have to have some kind of position of importance & power to make a difference, but God uses every day people like you & me to change the world one life at a time. It’s not always something big that you have to do, sometimes it’s something as simple as smiling at someone, picking up the phone to call someone, or making a hospital visit.
I once heard a story something like this, a young woman, going through a very very hard time, had reached the end of her rope. It seemed like her life was falling apart & everything was going from bad to worse. She had decided she was going to end her life because she felt so alone, empty & forsaken. In desperation she made one last plea & said “God please just give me a sign that I’m not alone & that someone cares about me so that I don’t have to bring my life to an end, just give me some sign that you still love me today.” She later that day sat down on a park bench all alone as usual, often times people would walk by her & it seemed as if they looked down at her, as if to say “you’re nothing”. But something different happened this day as a little lady walked up to her, smiled & said “how are you doing?” They sat there & talked for a few minutes as the lady, for the first time in a long time, made her feel love & accepted again. The lady asked her if she had any plans that night, she did to end her life, but she said “No Why?” The lady said “I enjoyed your company so much I’d like to take you out for a cup of coffee.”
It wasn’t a huge event to everyone else, but that simple act of kindness saved that young girls life, all because a lady went out of her way to make someone feel loved & accepted.
God can use you right where you are today to change someone’s world. Maybe it’s that person you work with who you know is going through a struggle in their marriage, let them know you‘re concerned & that you‘re praying for them. Maybe it’s the family member you know is going through depression, you can call them to check & see how their doing & speak hope into their life. Maybe that kid that you see day after day sit by their self during lunch at school you could go sit next to them & talk. You never know what someone is going through & who might just be on the edge of giving up. God can use YOU to be the change & make a difference in their world sometimes by something so simple. So join me & letting God use you to change your world today!
Please feel free to leave comments & feedback below, I love to hear from you all!
God Bless,
Jimmy
Jimmy Dooley Ministries