A Willing Vessel

This past Saturday was filled with much excitement as Ashleigh and Jason got ready for their first Father-Daughter Dance.  I enjoyed spending those precious moments helping my daughter get ready for her big date with Daddy.  After Aaron and I saw them off we hopped in the car and made our way to Greensboro to do a little Christmas “Looking” (as Aaron calls it).  Afterwards we headed back to High Point to eat at Olive Garden, located at the Palladium.  Aaron and I enjoyed our Mother-Son outing and as the evening was drawing to an end I decided to check Facebook to see if Jason had posted any pictures that he may have taken.  When I pulled open Facebook the first post I see was of a little girl in the hospital and this little girl happens to be the daughter of a friend of mine at work.  I was heartbroken to see such a small child in ICU and hooked up to so many tubes, lines and monitors.  I started to cry, I hurt for this little girl and her mother and immediately Aaron and I stopped and prayed for her.  Our waiter came around the corner after we had finished and asked if we need anything else and I just said the check.  He asked if I was OK and I said yes and proceeded to tell him about what I had seen on Facebook.  A few minutes later he was back packing up our leftovers and he brought the check.  Aaron and I were preparing to leave when Justin (our waiter) came back to our table and asked if he could pray with us, for Cadence, and I immediately agreed.   I was awestruck that this kind young man wasn’t worried about the other guests or about what his manger would say.  He was just willing to be an instrument, a vessel that the Holy Spirit would use.

How many times have you heard the voice of God and ignored it?  What if Justin had ignored the nudge, the still small voice, that push that only comes from the Holy Spirit?  How many times have we been a willing vessel?  I was deeply touched by this young man’s actions and it makes me wonder how many times I have been a willing vessel for my God. 

 

We should be willing and prepared at all times.  I believe that Acts 9:15 speaks of Justin’s character Saturday night.

“But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:” 

He was not only willing, but he was prepared to do what God had asked of him.  I think sometimes in our Christian walk we are so wrapped up in saving the lost and spreading the Gospel that we tend to overlook our brothers and sisters in Christ.  I’m not saying that the lost are not important, because they are.  Jesus stated that we should compel them (the sinners) to come and we have been placed on this earth to spread the Gospel.  But we should not forget that we also have to uplift those that are part of the family.  If we do not encourage one another and if we are not there to help those that are downtrodden then they will be left to temptation.  Justin was an encouragement to me and a reminder that we are not alone in this world.  Sometimes it feels like we fight an endless battle and we get nowhere.  But God!  Yes But God!  He sends those people into our lives to remind us that we are in this fight together and that we are not alone and that He will always send those into our lives when we need them the most.   

Let us uplift one another, let our lives reflect Christ, so that we may be a vessel that God will use for His Glory! 

 

2 Timothy 2:21  

“If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.”