Sharing With Others

An excerpt from First Light: Women's Daily Devotional &Journal:

And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for such sacrifices God is pleased

Hebrews 13: 16 NIV

How do you sacrifice to give others what they need?

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We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not please ourselves.

Romans 15: 1 NIV

When have you helped to bear someone's failure or difficult circumstances? When has someone shared with you during a time of need in your life?

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I can answer the first question:

My first thought when I think about helping people goes straight to money. I always think that the only way I am helping somebody is when or if I give them some money. But the truth is, when I give out of myself not just financially...but maybe give a hug or a smile or an encouraging word, that's a sacrifice (especially when you don't even feel well yourself), and I might have been giving somebody just what they needed at just the right moment.

Have you ever given somebody a hug or a compliment, and they turn right around and say, "Thank you, I needed that".

Accountability And Counting

An excerpt from First Light: Women's Daily Devotional &Journal:

I never had a curfew. Mother saw curfews as permisive. She preferred accountability. When I left the house with a new boy for a new activity, the conversation always began, "What time will you be home"?

"I don't know", I would respond.

"Well, let's figure it out", she'd say. "What time does the movie start? Then how long will it take you to drive to Jamie's party? and so on we reasoned until we came to the same reasonable conclusion, given the night's agenda.

When I was tempted to deviate from the plan. I knew I faced questions that would not stop until she had the full picture.

Being fully accountable was restricting at the time, yet liberating for a lifetime of decisions.

How has accountability for your actions - whether as a child or as an adult - benefited you in the long run? What means does God use to hold you accountable?

Romans 14: 12

So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.