Emma's The Best!

TESTIMONY TUESDAY!

“ Return home and tell how much God has done for you.”

~ Luke 8:39

Presenting with excitement, I introduce to you Testimony Tuesdays!!! A testimony by definition is: a formal written or spoken statement, a public recounting of a religious conversion or experience. The Bible commands us in numerous places to bring praise, glory, and honor to our God by proclaiming, declaring, and telling about His marvelous works to others. That is the purpose and heart behind this installment for my Tuesday posts. Each Tuesday (more or less), a testimony will be shared here involving the recounting of salvation, redemption, overcoming, and/or healing just to name a few; A story that brings glory to our God and in which we might be encouraged, spurred on, and challenged with at the same time.The stories that will be shared will either be of my own personal experiences, excerpts from books, testimonies I find via YouTube or other media sources, as well as YOURS! I would love to know and give you the opportunity to share here with us a testimony of your own, of whatever fashion that involves the Lord doing a transforming work in your life. Just email me your testimony and I will see what I can do about posting it on a future Tuesday! You may choose to have your name be known or anonymous. I look forward to hearing from you!

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-  A  Testimony  of  Love  and   Service  -

In the busyness of life and in all of our doing, sometimes we as Christians forget the meaning behind why we do all that we do, not to mention all the time we waste with meaningless toil; the endless Facebook surfing/ YouTube watching, committing myself to activities I really can't handle, out of the wrong motivation of people pleasing... the list goes on... These are some of the things I have been really combating against in my flesh right now for quite some time.  

Today I'm going to share with you a little story about a friend of mine, a beautiful soul and servant of Christ who probably has no idea how great of a blessing she is to me and most likely to many others too. Her name is Emma. She is a fellow company member of mine at Ballet Magnificat as well as the current company seamstress. A very talented one she is, and oh so sweet! She is an excellent lover of people. To my personal observation, I seldom see this young woman wasting time. It seems that the toiling Emma chooses to occupy herself with never amounts to anything BUT good fruit, producing glory and honor to our God and Father in heaven. 
Of course, I know that it is only because the Spirit of our Father God in heaven that lives inside Emma, that she is even able to love and serve so greatly, but her willingness to be a vessel used by our Lord cannot be overlooked. 

These awesome ladies are working hard to finish costumes for my latest choreo for Ballet Magnificat to "The Garden" by the amazing @karijobe 🌸🌺🌷 @balletmagnificat #danceforgod #flowers #thegarden #karijobe

A post shared by taradrewdance (@taradrewdance) on Sep 2, 2017 at 1:02pm PDT

Weeks ago when I had the opportunity to come alongside Emma and help her with sewing in the costume department, I was SUPER blessed (i mean super!) with how she conducted herself. Regardless of the overwhelming amount of work that needed to get done (It was A LOT), every time someone new entered the sewing room I observed how she would so sweetly take the time to stop what she was doing, acknowledge their presence, greet them cheerfully, and engage with them... unlike the rest of us who had our faces buried in our projects. To glance up from my work and even say "HEY", would have been considered generous of me that day. Emma (or the sweet Holy Spirit in her), in the midst of everything, MADE time to show love to the people around her. I desire to learn from her example.

It's the little things in life. 

Maybe nobody else observed this about Emma that day, but it is the individuals that do take note of small gestures such as these that come to see and experience how even the smallest display of the set-apart love of God can change everything! In the monotony of the daily grind, running on autopilot and ending up in survival mode, it can be hard for me to not land myself in a self-serving rut. I repent of it and pray for myself (especially with being in the very business of ministry), I pray for us, that the work we fill our days with will never turn us into mindless unfeeling zombies jeopardizing potential opportunities to display the light and love of our Lord Jesus Christ. Inspired by Emma's example, I too want to choose to be occupied with only toiling that is meaningful, and to go about my days in the most God-glorifying, outward-focused way possible. 

Now, I will leave you with this YouTube clip to watch. In resemblance to the story I just shared with you about my dear friend Emma, Francis Chan shares a story about a notable friend of his who takes time in life to invest in the people he crosses paths with and it results in salvation!!!! Coincidence? I think not! Taking time to serve and love on people in a Christ-like manner can go a long way! It can lead to blessings and can accomplish much unto the glory of our Savior.

Do you know anyone that lives in such an outward, selfless, Christ-like way?! Would you tell us about them in the comment section below? Thanks for reading!  Have a blessed day in the Lord! 

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