Looking at Life Differently

Sunday night was the final night of our church's Missions Celebration Weekend. Our church has held this yearly event for several years now. It is a wonderful time to see the local, national and international missionaries we as a church support, hear how they are helping others, and how we can become involved.

This year's event ended a little differently. Instead of completing a life commitment card describing how you would like to serve the Lord, we were given a Faith in Action guide. This guide is designed to help you begin or continue your life in service for Christ. There are suggestions for each week to help you be more intentional in serving Jesus every day.

On the guide is this quote, "It is unlikely that we will deepen our relationship with God in a casual or haphazard manner. There will be a need for some intentional commitment and some reorganization in own our lives. But there is nothing that will enrich our lives more than a deeper and clearer perception of God's presence in the routine of daily living." William O. Paulsell

I'm excited about this forty day challenge. I thought that maybe some of you would also like to be encouraged to be more intentional about serving God daily. Each week, I'll post the suggestions from the guide. I'd love to hear your suggestions too!

As our speaker Friday night put it this way, "God gave us his ALL. What are you going to give him?"

Here are this week's suggestions and verse:

Week 1 - January 31
"For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Ephesians 2:10

*Begin or continue a daily time of Bible reading and prayer. It will make a huge difference in your life and give you a desire to serve Christ daily.
*Call a school and offer to mentor a child or teen, read to a class or help in whatever way is needed
*Return a neighbor's garbage can from the street
*Write a note of appreciation
*Ask God to help you share Christ with someone He brings to you, and watch for an opportunity to do that
*Write something nice about your wait person on the bill
*Round up blankets, coats and warm clothes to donate to a Co-op or a homeless shelter
*Pay for someone's meal behind you at the drive-thru and leave your church's card

I'd love to know your thoughts and what you are doing!