Paper cut

Hebrews 13:21 (ESV)

Equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Ever gotten one of those really bad paper cuts? I heard someone complaining about one the other day – and I got to thinking about all the stuff we gripe about without even realizing it. Our jobs and our relationships, our parents, our children, our churches, our homes, our appearances.

Really though, all these things are just paper cuts, when we compare them to the deep wounds of a world who doesn’t know the Lord!

We need to spend a lot less time complaining about our little paper cuts and much more time praying and ministering to the deep deep wounds of the lost all around us.

Dear Lord, help us not be concerned about the little paper cuts we come across but instead be concerned about the huge hurts that are all around us. In the Name of Jesus, Amen. 

Is your Hurt Slowing Down Your Work for the Lord

Consider a certain mother named Marie. Marie's only son died at age 17 of a drug overdose. For weeks the young mother was so wrapped in grief that she was unable to function. One day an older woman advised her to give up her constant grieving. "Give your sorrow to the Lord," she said, "and He will give back one hundred fold what you have lost." The two women prayed together. The older woman said she would keep Marie in her prayers.

Marie got up and began looking for things she could do for others. She began looking for ways to prevent the same tragedy that she had experienced from happening to other families. Today Marie works in a halfway house for young addicts. On her bulletin board she has close to a hundred snapshots of young men and women who call her Mom. The Lord did restore to her a hundredfold what she had lost. The pain of losing her son is still there, but her life is filled with purpose as she and her older friend continue their ministries.

There are lots of ways we in which we get hurt. Let us not allow our hurt to keep us from doing what we know God would have us to do.

So you have pain now; but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.

-John 16:22

Dear Lord, may our pain be eased by doing something fulfilling in your name for those around us. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.