On Saturday I attended the Union Gospel Mission Annual Fundraising Banquet with my husband! This ministry is dear to his heart and he’s given many years of service and love to this organization.
Donald Miller, New York Times bestselling author of Blue Like Jazz, was the featured speaker and I was thrilled to be apart of this wonderful evening. Just like UGM, Mr. Miller is passionate about the neglected and abandoned. He has given much time and work with underprivileged and underserved. Recently, I enjoyed this BLOG of his. At the banquet he talked about the difference between a victim and a wounded healer. He encouraged us to laugh in the face of tragedy. The nature of life is tragedy but the nature of God is hope. God is in the business of redeeming our suffering. Jesus came for the saving of MANY lives.
It was a good reminder to me about how important it is to serve and minister out of my own suffering. To give away what God has given me. God meets our need in a certain area of our life whether it be physical, spiritual, financial, psychological, or any other ‘al’, and what we are given we impart to others. If once you were given a blanket, you shall give a blanket some day. If once you were given freedom from abuse, you shall free others. Perhaps you received grace for a debt and in turn you shall forgive another’s debt to you. Delivered from addiction, then lead others to sober ground.
What is your turning point? What is that one place where God met your need, healed your hurt, unhooked your hang-up? That’s your turning point. The thing that happened when you knew that God did a big thing. Start there. Give from that point. Let the overflow fall onto others in the same place you were. Allow the grace in your life to be the turning point for another…and so it will go. From one hope giver to the next.
Lives changed.