AN EXAMPLE

EXPRESSING CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLES IN YOUR DAY TO DAY LIFE

"And you should follow my example, just as I follow Christ's." (1 Corinthians 11:1, TLB).

When Matt, our son, was nine years old, he started wearing contact lenses. In the first two years he wore them, he lost five lenses. Paying for those lenses didn't help our budget any, and I started to become a nagging mother. It got to the point where Matt was afraid to tell me when he lost a lens because he knew I would be upset.

About that time I heard a speaker say we should trust God with everything in our lives: our children, our homes, our possessions and our money. I had been willing to trust God for all of my family, my home, my money, and most of my possessions, but that day I decided to trust God with the lenses as well. Just a few days later one of the neighbor boys came to the door and said Matt had lost his lens on the grass in Billy's yard. Can you imagine trying to find a brown contact lens the size of the tip of your little finger on brown grass?

I told Matt I thought we should pray before we tried to look for the lens. He said, "Right here?"

"Yes."

Giving Thanks

All of the little neighbor boys watched in awe as Matt and I prayed God would help us find his lens. Minutes later we found it. Matt was quite willing then to pray and thank God for letting us find the lens.

Within the next month we went through that same situation three more times. We found the lens twice. The third time, as before, we asked God to help us, then we looked - and looked. We didn't find it. As we came into the house, I silently prayed that God would help me to control my temper and say the right thing to Matt.

The verse, "In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you" (1 Thessalonians 5:18, KJV), came to my mind. I shared this verse with Matt and asked him if he could thank God for this situation. Matt thought a minute and then said he could. He prayed, "Dear God, It sure would have been nice if you would've let us find that lens, but it's OK. Thanks a lot anyway, God. Amen."

Matt and I both learned we could give thanks even in difficult situations. I learned that with God's help I could be a profound common sense thinker as I taught Matt how to live the Christian life on a day-to-day basis.

It is possible to teach those around us by example so that we can say with Paul, "And you should follow my example, just as I follow Christ's." I believe it is.

MWH

This devotional is an excerpt from Marilyn Heavilin's new book, Profound Common Sense. The book is available now by contacting Marilyn and will be available for purchase at America's Keswick this summer.

Marilyn is a wife and mother, author, and international conference and retreat speaker. She and her husband Glen serve as Counselors-in-Residence at America's KESWICK during the summer months.

May is here and we will be hosting our 4th Annual Family Freedom Walk on Saturday, May 12th. YOU can help in two ways.


ONE. WALK - call guest services (732.350.1187) to obtain a walk package, solicit sponsors and come to the walk.

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Our goal is to raise more funds by the Victory Call team than the men raise for the Freedom Fighter's team. Last year Victory Call subscribers raised $5,350.00 and Freedom Fighter’s subscribers raised $100.00. Victory Call WON, by ALOT! In reality, the Addiction Recovery ministries won because together we raised $43,136.00!!

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