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The Blessing That Last Forever
When something wonderful happens…when God’s blessings are flowing…you want to share it with someone. Something wonderful happened to me Wednesday night.
I am in charge of our 30th. high school reunion.
Yes, I said 30 (that’s not the wonderful part).
I was trying to locate some classmates whose letters had come back in
the mail because of changing addresses.
I had finally found the number of someone who was a gift from God in my
life…who had shared with me the most memorable moments of my high school
years…who had been there for me in best of times…who had been there for me
when I needed a friend.
You know what I’m talking about…we all have those special people in
our lives.
I was calling to get an address…just to get an address.
But when she answered the phone and said “hello”, everything
changed. You
see, it had been twenty-eight years since I had talked to her…twenty eight
years!
I know what you’re thinking.
Why, Billy Coleman, you ought to be ashamed of yourself.
I was.
Aren’t you the guy who writes books about relationships and how
important they are?
I am.
Don’t you challenge us in your talks to live each moment to its
fullest and never take others for granted.
I do.
I have no excuses.
I can only say to God and to her “forgive me”.
We began to talk and she began to share about her life with me.
Twenty-eight years vanished and we were in high school again.
The feeling was overwhelming.
Then she shared about an accident she had several years ago where her
spine was crushed.
Her recovery lasted five years…at first a wheel chair…the a
cane…and then……a miracle!
One morning she woke up as she had for many mornings, except this time
something was different.
This time there was no pain.
God had healed her, and she glorified Him for His presence in her life.
She shares her miraculous testimony with others as well as her musical
talents, which are extraordinary.
Tears filled my eyes as she shared and I thought, “Here she goes
again, blessing my life…just like she did thirty years ago.”
As I listened to her, my first reaction was sadness.
Sadness that she went through such a difficult time in her
life…sadness that I was not there for someone that made such a difference in
my life when she needed me.
Guilt was also there.
How could I have let the years go by?
Then my sadness turned to joy.
I felt the presence of the Holy Spirit, and I praised God for His love
and what He does in other’s lives…in her life.
I was reminded that He is all we really need.
He was using her to make a difference.
I remember she said, “Every now and then, He lets me feel a touch of
pain to remind me of what He has done in my life.”
She has a wonderful husband and three great children who have also been
touched by God through her.
Finally, I felt challenged.
I want to praise God for all those in our lives He has used to make a
difference…the many He has purposely sent to us.
Relationships are not accidents, they are channels of His love, and
they last forever.
We spend our whole lives doing things that are not important when the
truth is that it is people who are important.
God forgive us for leaving people out of our lives.
Many of you who read these devotionals are friends of the present…I
want to say I love you and I thank God for you.
You have changed my life forever.
And to those of my past, let me say that I will live each day to
express my thanks to God for the impact you have had on me.
And as I live my life for Him, I will seek out those and pull them into
the present.
Joyfully, in the end, there will be no past, only the present…for in
heaven we will all be together, to share eternity engulfed by the love of
Christ.
I’ve got to go now and make a call to someone who touched my life twenty
eight years ago and who touched my life again Wednesday night.
I want to tell her to read this devotional.
It doesn’t make up for twenty-eight years, but it’s a start.
And with Christ, there always time for a new start.
All glory to Him who uses relationships to channel His love into our
lives.
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