Christmas is only a few days away, and we are all being distracted by last minute shopping and guests. Thank you for taking time to pause and read another of these thoughts about people who are part of our “Legacy of Faith.”
Writing can be a lonely task. That’s why readers are important participants in my legacy of faith. They encourage me to keep going.
For example, recently, my daughter sent out my Christmas letter by e-mail to several hundred friends. Within hours, she knew that over 200 of those e-mails had been opened. My in-box was flooded with people responding to the letter and the sample devotional that was attached. One friend texted, “Have had you on my heart a lot recently then just read your Christmas letter and the first day of your devotional and cried, thanking God for His goodness! So grateful to Him for placing you in my life and for your influence for Him!”
I replied that her response was exactly what I hoped would be the result of my writing these devotionals. I wanted readers to reach out and thank all those who have helped them to grow in Christ. But her next text touched me also. She explained that she had shared the devotional with all her children and her mother, too. A ripple effect.
In Psalm 22, King David prophesied about the coming Messiah in amazing detail. His hands and feet would be pierced. People would divide his clothes and cast lots for his robe. All were fulfilled when Jesus hung on the cross a thousand years later. But David went on to prophesy about you and me too. “Our children will also serve him. Future generations will hear about the wonders of the Lord. His righteous acts will be told to those not yet born. They will hear about everything he has done.” That ripple effect is felt even now, thousands of years later!
When we thank someone and encourage a person’s faith, that act can also have a ripple effect, prompting others to pass it on. You may not be an author hearing from readers, but the prayer, phone call or text you initiate today can start a ripple that may touch lives of people you have never met. We all can have a part in fulfilling David’s prophecy!
