Thursday, May 10, 2007

E-mail Encouragement: Just One More Time

I hope your week has gone well so far. I hope that you’ve been able to do some “tilling” into people’s lives this week. Or maybe it has been some “working” of the soil. Or, even some “fertilizing.” Whatever it is, I hope that you have seen God in your days in ways that have surprised you. I know that I’ve had some moments which God has used my “weakness” for His glory. God definitely shows up when you least expect it. Just tonight, I was thankful that God put in my path someone who’d I least expected. It was just a “working of the soil” moment! That is not even mentioning all the “working of the soils” that was done when I was at the school on Wednesday.

Thomas Edison, known for the invention of the light bulb (among other things), like most inventors, failed many times during his life as an inventor. From his experiences, offers up this great quote…

"Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” ~ Thomas Edison

How many times have we failed at something, and then to just give up? I am sure a number of times. Where there are tangible consequences, then we are less likely to give up (i.e. doing school work for a grade, rather than doing the work to simply “learn”). If you have ever tried to share Jesus with someone (whether it be an invitation to church, a note of encouragement, an attempt to be evangelistic, etc.) and failed, you are probably not real eager to try it again. You feel like a failure. What about thinking that it wasn’t the right time for that person to be open? Or, maybe you could just tweak your approach to make it better. Or, maybe you just didn’t “see” the right person to approach, and it really is the next person that is open and ready. However, if you stop after either one of these, you could be preventing a huge wave of people who you were going to influence. Just like if Thomas Edison would have stopped with a few failures, he would have never let his “light” shine on so many other people. If the first few attempts of a glass bulb that encased filaments and gas would have prevented him from going on, he would have missed a huge wave of people to influence.

Who will you shed your “light” on this week? Don’t limit to how few, but to the many!!! Don’t have a goal of 1, 5, 10, etc., have an attitude of EACH person that I come in contact with I will be a light to them…not giving up! Remember, even if you fail, just try one more time – that may be the one who needs your “light” the most!!!

How has God surprised you lately?...

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