(Image: Pixabay)
Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid;
do not be discouraged, for the Lord your
God will be with you wherever you go. (Joshua 1:9 (NIV))
I had recently arrived in the United States and didn’t know anyone. For a year, I worked for a telemarketing company in a low-paying, entry-level job, and it was difficult for me to make ends meet. I hoped that this job would be temporary because talking daily on the telephone with customers who insulted me made me feel insignificant.
Then one evening while I was making a routine call, the woman who answered the phone was crying and pleaded with me to call 911. She had been injured by domestic violence. Immediately, I dialed 911 and gave all her call-list information to the operator. I left my work station to take a few moments to compose myself and began to pray for God’s strength and for the woman and her situation. In that moment, I realized that God can use each of us wherever we are. Because I was at my “insignificant” job, a woman in need was helped. I learned that no person is unimportant when serving God by helping a neighbor — or a stranger.
Then one evening while I was making a routine call, the woman who answered the phone was crying and pleaded with me to call 911. She had been injured by domestic violence. Immediately, I dialed 911 and gave all her call-list information to the operator. I left my work station to take a few moments to compose myself and began to pray for God’s strength and for the woman and her situation. In that moment, I realized that God can use each of us wherever we are. Because I was at my “insignificant” job, a woman in need was helped. I learned that no person is unimportant when serving God by helping a neighbor — or a stranger.
TODAY'S PRAYER:
Merciful God, continue to shine your light on us as we seek to do your will and to help those in need. In the name of Christ. Amen.
TODAY'S READING:
Joshua 1:1-9 Joshua 1:1 After the death of Moshe the servant of Adonai, Adonai said to Y’hoshua the son of Nun, Moshe’s assistant, 2 “Moshe my servant is dead. So now, get up and cross over this Yarden, you and all the people, to the land I am giving to them, the people of Isra’el. 3 I am giving you every place you will step on with the sole of your foot, as I said to Moshe. 4 All the land from the desert and the L’vanon to the great river, the Euphrates River — all the land of the Hitti — and on to the Great Sea in the west will be your territory. 5 No one will be able to withstand you as long as you live. Just as I was with Moshe, so I will be with you. I will neither fail you nor abandon you.
6 “Be strong, be bold; for you will cause this people to inherit the land I swore to their fathers I would give them. 7 Only be strong and very bold in taking care to follow all the Torah which Moshe my servant ordered you to follow; do not turn from it either to the right or to the left; then you will succeed wherever you go. 8 Yes, keep this book of the Torah on your lips, and meditate on it day and night, so that you will take care to act according to everything written in it. Then your undertakings will prosper, and you will succeed. 9 Haven’t I ordered you, ‘Be strong, be bold’? So don’t be afraid or downhearted, because Adonai your God is with you wherever you go.” (Complete Jewish Bible).
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
No one is insignificant in God’s eyes.
PRAYER FOCUS:
Victims of domestic violence
***
