where's your influence?
Hey there! I have been writing for a publication so I want to catch up with y’all this week! Happy pumpkin spice season and all of this craziness! Pumpkin spice M & Ms are also a sweet treat too, if you have not tried them! What is up with you?
Homeschool has been fun for us as we are getting into a routine and finding what works best for us. I love cool fall mornings beginning the day with school while everyone is still (somewhat) fresh until nap times. If you homeschool now or have homeschooled, what are some ideas you have that enable you to make the best use of time, especially with different ages? We are having a blast and the younger ones get to participate with our kindergartner and learn colors, shapes, listen to story time, and other fun activities. I miss elementary school sometimes…sigh… I am clearly pretty far removed from elementary school, so here I am a mom of a kindergartener (WOW!), so what does God have for me? What does God have for you?
No matter where you are, in middle school, high school, in college, in a career, a mom, a wife, a community helper, you have a special realm of influence unique to YOU! You have an opportunity to communicate God’s love to a lost world where you are. In the New Testament, 2 Peter 3, Peter is writing a letter to let the persecuted Christians know that there will be scoffers who make fun of the faith, but to hold on, knowing that Jesus is coming back again. He also reminds them that the Lord is patient, as He desires that everyone come to know Him personally. For those in middle or high school, you have an amazing opportunity to love people each day, including those who teach you!
In my small group of senior girls at church, one of them is challenged daily by a teacher who inquires about her thoughts on what God has to say on many different issues. Although she is the only one in the class he “picks on” in this way, she is able to have an impact on other classmates AND on the teacher himself! If this is you, keep on going! Stick it out!
To my college ladies out there, you have four(ish) years to influence an entire campus full of peers out there, who, many at this place in life, are looking for direction and are open to ideas of faith. In classrooms, practices, football games, study groups, dorm rooms, and hanging out, you have a chance to make a difference for God Himself. How do you live your life? Do you live what you say and do you speak what you say you believe?
I am a stay-at-home, work-at-home mom, so right now I have a chance to disciple and influence the littles who live with me. Although I have loved mission trips I have been on, right now is not the easiest time to participate in those, but my realm of influence is focused on my home in my family. Some of you may be able to travel overseas and do missions there, maybe even with your own families!
For those in careers, those relationships made with people you see each day is incredible. When people know you care, they will listen to what you say. When I talk to clients in counseling, they will only listen well when they know I care. I can speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15). When we have real authentic relationships with people, we have the opportunity to speak the truth to them.
The world needs both words and actions. If someone acts like Christ, but never speaks of Christ, nobody will know why they act the way they do. If someone speaks about Christ and lives in contradiction, it turns people away from Him. Each of us has a special ministry unique to us. We have certain places we go, stores we shop at, and people we see. Are we kind to the people at stores we go to? Do we lay on the horn when people back up at the same time we do in a parking lot? Do we practice grace when the teenager at Chick-fil-A gets our order wrong :)? Little moments like this test us, but are ways to show Jesus to people around us. Let me know how you found times to influence those around you this week! Hugs!
Love,
Charis
