God did a beautiful thing for me today.<\/p>\n
I was feeling down, shaken at the core of my being, who I am.\u00c2\u00a0 Let’s just say that some hurtful words in a letter, coming from someone I love, essentially accused me of being a bad mother and a bad person.\u00c2\u00a0 No matter how much my mind knows that’s not true, my heart was wounded, and I needed reassurance.\u00c2\u00a0 I was also tempted to answer the letter, but knew I probably shouldn’t.\u00c2\u00a0 Still, I asked God about it…<\/p>\n
Anyway, Saturday night I was choosing clothes to wear to church.\u00c2\u00a0 I wanted to wear something pretty — I feel like God’s telling me He’s giving me beauty for ashes, and the truth is that He’s making me more beautiful during this trial, and I wanted to wear something to symbolize that.<\/p>\n
My eye fell on a v-neck t-shirt with little stars embroidered across it, and I thought of the verse in Philippians 2, “… you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life…”\u00c2\u00a0 I thought I’d wear that shirt as a symbol of shining like a star through God’s light.\u00c2\u00a0 To go with the symbolism, I chose underwear with stars all over them, too!\u00c2\u00a0 \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n
As I put the clothes aside, I thought how neat it would be if God had that verse come up in the sermon in the morning.\u00c2\u00a0 I prayed and asked for it.\u00c2\u00a0 I knew that would be symbol from God that He is indeed making me shine like a star in the universe, by His grace.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
I had trouble getting to sleep that night, so I thought about the phrase, “you shine like stars in the universe…”<\/p>\n
Well, the verse did not come up in the sermon.\u00c2\u00a0 It was a good sermon, about living your Christianity in your job.\u00c2\u00a0 I got to thinking, well, it was a silly little whim.\u00c2\u00a0 God certainly didn’t have to do that.\u00c2\u00a0 What are the chances that that particular verse would come up anyway?<\/p>\n
Then they did the closing song:<\/p>\n
We are the peple of God
\nThe sons and daughters of love
\nForgiven, restored and redeemed
\nLiving our lives to the praise of our King
\nWe are the ones who will shine
\nHis light in the darkness of\u00c2\u00a0night
\nThe hopeless, the broken, the poor
\nThey will be hopeless and broken\u00c2\u00a0no more<\/p>\nYou are the light
\nThe light of the world
\nAnd we shine You, Lord
\nYou are the light
\nThe light of the world
\nAnd we shine You, Lord<\/p><\/blockquote>\nOkay, that specific verse wasn’t there.\u00c2\u00a0 But I was getting the idea…<\/p>\n
Then came the third verse:<\/p>\n
We shine like stars in the universe
\nProclaiming the hope of our God
\nAnd to the sons and daughters in all the earth
\nWe shine You, Lord<\/p><\/blockquote>\nNow\u00c2\u00a0there was no doubt — “shine like stars in the universe” is exactly quoting the verse.\u00c2\u00a0 By this time, my eyes were streaming with tears!<\/p>\n
By doing that little thing for me, I felt that God was telling me He loves me.\u00c2\u00a0 He cares about the little things of my life.\u00c2\u00a0 He cares about my emotional pain.\u00c2\u00a0 And He is indeed making me shine like a star.<\/p>\n
Wow!<\/p>\n
Then came the punchline.\u00c2\u00a0 When I got home, I looked up the verse.\u00c2\u00a0 I had forgotten how the sentence begins, in the previous verse, Philippians 2:14 —<\/p>\n
Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life. . .<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I had asked God if I should defend myself and answer the letter that hurt me?\u00c2\u00a0 Well, in His loving and wonderful way (with His sense of humor), He gently led me to the answer:\u00c2\u00a0 “Do everything without. . . arguing”!\u00c2\u00a0 And, in fact, my answer is my life, in which God is making me shine like a star.<\/p>\n
Praise Him.<\/p>\n