Stories For Us

I find that when God has a lesson for me to learn, it becomes a running theme in my life. Everywhere I turn, I hear the same message - at church, in my Bible study, in my reading, at conferences I attend. He speaks the message so often, through so many venues, that I can't help but pay attention.

My most recent lesson has been on living a life of generosity, and how even the simple gifts have great value. It started with a chapter I wrote for my book, then continued with a few diet cokes. Then the enemy attacked and I wondered if my money should have been better spent. I started to feel guilty that I don't do enough for the world around me. But I pressed forward, doing the next small thing. I knew I wasn't alone in my fear that my giving wasn't good enough. Many of you left comments and messaged me saying you often felt the same way and heard the same lies.

I attended the Cornerstone University Women's Leadership Conference last weekend, and guess what our main speaker Elisa Morgan spoke on. Living generously. Each of us doing what we can. I sat there with my internal mouth hanging open.

Her talk, and most recent book, She Did What She Could (SDWSC) is based on the story of Mary of Bethany found in Mark 14:

³While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.

⁴ Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, “Why this waste of perfume? ⁵ It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages and the money given to the poor.” And they rebuked her harshly.

⁶ “Leave her alone,” said Jesus. “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. ⁷ The poor you will always have with you,and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. ⁸ She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. ⁹ Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”

Did you see what Jesus said when the men started to attack her for act of generosity given to Jesus out of deep love for Him? "Leave her alone!" (verse 6) She did what she could! (verse 8)

Elisa says in her book:

"Most of us care. We really do. We care about our own lives, for sure, and also about the lives of those around us. We care about poverty and injustice, about orphans and the sick. We are about the folks who live and work alongside u and about what happens in their families, in their hearts, and in their heads. And yet, weighted down by everyday responsibilities - bring home a paycheck, putting food on the table, shuttling kids around - we question our ability to make a difference. When we're bombarded by the latetest celebrity-help-the-world-athon, we shrug our shoulders in futility. Me? how? Faced with the seeming insignificance of what we have to offer, we don't offer anything.

Elisa goes on to ask the question, what if I did what I could, and you did what you could and together we all did what we could, right here, in our own communities, where God has planted us? What might the world look like? She reminds us that Mary didn't wait to be invited, pushed past what might have held her back. She didn't just think about doing something someday and then forget about it. She did what she could. Right then.

She asked us at the conference, "What if I respond to the one thing today that crosses my path?" God doesn't ask us to do everything. He didn't even say she did all she could. She did what she could. In that moment she acted out of a relationship with Jesus in the context of who she was. She was living loved.

What if we lived like we are loved by God, every single day? What would we do? Who would we reach out to? This is freeing, friends.

I was so moved by the message, that I wanted to share it with you. So I bought one of her books, She Did What She Could, to share with a reader. I asked Elisa to sign it and told her, "This is a conversation we were just having on my blog this week! I'm going to give one of these away on my blog!" Elisa's face lit up with a big smile and she handed me a button and said, "Give them a button too! And please encourage them to sign up for the FullFill magazine." Then she gave me a hug!

Elisa has a free online magazine called FullFill. Her website says:

We are influencers, you and I. All of us. From the moment we wake to the second we slip off to slumber, we are affecting our world and the people in it. Whether we know it or not. Whether we try to or not. Whether we choose to or not. We are influencers. We can influence by accident or we can influence by effort.

Welcome to FullFill™ ... a place where you can live out your influence.

FullFill™ is for women in all seasons of life. FullFill™ is a ministry of Mission: Momentum, a nonprofit effort focusing on mobilizing women to invest their influence in the world for God's purposes.

You can sign up for FullFill free, here! And while you're at it, check out the weekly ReFill blog. In fact, one of my friends and fellow writers, Lisa, had a post on the blog just last week!

Here's how you can enter to win a signed copy of Elisa Morgan's book She Did What She Could and a button with SDWSC on it:

1. Leave a comment on this post.

2. Tweet this post and then leave a comment letting me know you tweeted it.

Enter to #win Elisa Morgan's book She Did What She Could from @amrhodes http://storiesfor.us/?p=2456 #giveaway

3. Share this post with your friends on Facebook (you can use the buttons below this post), and then leave another comment letting me know you shared it on FB.

4. Go "like" my new writing page on Facebook, here, and then leave a comment on this post letting me know!

5. Go sign up for FullFill, and leave another comment here letting me know you signed up.

FIVE entries. Whohoo!! I love giving stuff away!

Deadline for all entries is Friday February 24, 5 p.m. EST.

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book review, community, faith