PLEASANT WORDS FOR THE SOUL:  "This is what the past is for!  Every experience God gives us, every person He puts in our lives is the perfect preparation for the future that only He can see."   ~  Corrie ten Boom

A LIFE THAT COUNTED

Mark 14:8a -   She hath done what she could....

Here is a profound truth:  we are all getting older.  Time flies, doesn't it?  And the older you get the faster it flies.  Someday each of us will come to the end of this journey called life.  When that time comes what will be said about you and me?  If you have received Christ as your Savior you will stand before the Bema seat.  What will God say about your life?  When your pastor stands before your grave will he be able to say one thing you have done for the cause of Christ?  Mothers, will your children say you made an impact on their lives?  T here is a woman in the Bible who had a life that counted?  How do we know?  The Lord said of her, "wherever this gospel is preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of her for a memorial of her."  Mark 14:9.  She wasn't a valiant Deborah, or courageous Esther.  She was just a plain, village woman named Mary.   She didn't compare herself to anyone else,  she just did what SHE could. The woman who had the greatest impact on my life was my first pastor's wife.  She was a short, plump woman who was plain by every standard and yet she impacted my life more than any other person.    As the child of an abusive, alcoholic father my home life was very chaotic and dysfunctional. She offered to me what I needed:  love, support, spiritual guidance, peace,  encouragement, direction - TIME.  The many times she invited me to her home were an oasis for me.  She taught me not only with her words of wisdom, but her life of love and compassion.  What can you do?  Whose life can you invest in and affect?  Be a Mary and do what YOU can.

Dear Lord, help me to have a life that counts.  Help me to not compare my gifts and talents to others but to love you with all my heart, as Mary did, and then to just do what I can to impact someone's life.  Amen

PLEASANT WORDS FOR THE SOUL:
If I take offense easily; if I am content to continue in cold unfriendliness, though friendship is possible, then I know nothing of Calvary's love. - Amy Carmichael