Revealing God’s Love

Let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.

Matthew 5:16

It started with a quick e-mail from Doug, a work acquaintance, letting me know that our former coworker’s father had died. He was wondering whether I knew how she was doing. Before I knew it, I’d e-mailed a response asking Doug if he and his family would like to join forces in putting together a gift basket for her. After sending out the invitation, I paused for a moment, wondering why I was inviting someone I didn’t know very well to participate in a gift that I intuitively knew had God’s hand on it.

I later learned that, at the same moment when I was stealthily leaving the gift basket on our colleague’s doorstep, she was telling her husband that every last one of her friends had abandoned her during her father’s long illness, and that no one remained. Also unbeknownst to me was how perfectly God put together every gift in that basket, so much so that it sang out to her the existence of God and his love for his children.

She called me late that night to share the details of how perfectly God had orchestrated that gift, and she asked me to share it all with Doug. While I promised to generally share her thanks with Doug, I told her that the details were her story to share, not mine, and that he needed to hear from her how God had used us to encourage her.

Considering all that transpired, I realized that God used that gift in three ways. First, to reveal his love to a woman who was feeling abandoned. Second, to reveal himself to Doug and his family through the incredible timing and the perfectly chosen items in the gift basket. Third, as a reminder to me of the importance of inviting others to journey alongside of me, especially when I feel the nudging of God. It seemed so simple, providing a tangible gift of love for someone walking through a hard time, but God used this good deed to proclaim his glory and love and to draw others to praise him.

—Julie

— Today’s Act of Kindness —

Invite someone you do not know well to join you in a kind act.

From the book