MARCH 22: YOUR SOURCE OF STRENGTH

I read a book written by Bill Bright in which he told a story that took place at a London train station. One day, an elderly man stopped a woman. “Excuse me, ma’am”, he said, “but I want to thank you for something”. “Thank me!” the woman exclaimed. “Yes ma’am, I used to be the ticket collector, and whenever you went by, you always would give me a cheerful smile and a good morning, you don’t know what a difference it made to me”.

“Wet weather or dry, it was the same, I thought to myself, wonder where she gets her smile from, one cannot always be happy, yet she seems to be. I knew that smile must come from inside somehow”.

“Then one morning, you came by and you had a little Bible in your hand, I said to myself perhaps that is where she gets her smiles from. So on my way home that night, I bought a Bible and I have been reading it, and I have found Christ. Now I can smile too, and I want to thank you”.

As you and I seek to be God’s witnesses today and every day, dependent on the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, we should be mindful constantly of the fact that the joy of the Lord can indeed be our strength. That joy inevitably will shine on our faces, regardless of circumstances.

In the words of an anonymous poem;

“If you live close to God
And His infinite grace,
You don’t have to tell,
It shows on your face”.

Prayer: My Father and my Lord, help me to make a conscious effort to reflect the joy of my indwelling Lord in such a way that it will glow on my very countenance.