Daily Encounter: A Week-day Devotional by a staff of ACTS International.

Friday, July 15, 2016

"Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might."¹

You may have read about the thirty-eight-year-old scrubwoman who would go to the movies and sigh, "If only I had her looks." She would listen to a singer and moan, "If only I had her voice."

Then one day someone gave her a copy of the book, The Magic of Believing. She stopped comparing herself with actresses and singers. She stopped crying about what she didn't have and started concentrating on what she did have. She took inventory of herself and remembered that in high school she had a reputation for being the funniest girl around. She began to turn her liabilities into assets. When she was at the top of her career, Phyllis Diller made over $1 million a year. She wasn't good-looking and she had a scratchy voice, but she could make people laugh.²

Everybody is good at something ... even the person who said he was a good example of what not to do!

Seriously, what is it you like to do best? Even if it is only one talent, start putting it to good use todayâ€"right now. And then get the training you need to sharpen that talent and ask God how you can use it to serve Him and help others so you can make your life count for something worthwhile.

Don't wait for opportunities to fall into your lapâ€"they may or may not come. Make your own opportunities. If you find a need, meet it. If you find a hurt, heal it.

With God's help you, too, can make your life count for something truly worthwhile for time and eternity.

Suggested prayer: "Dear God, again today I commit and trust my life and way to You. What can I do for You today? I'm available; please make me usable and use me to help a wounded soul along the way, to bring a smile to a saddened heart, to give comfort to a lonely child, encouragement to a struggling teen, a sandwich to a hungry man. Whatever it is, please use me today to be 'as Jesus' to every life I touch. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus's name, amen."

1. Ecclesiastes 9:10 (NIV).
2. Rick Warren, Making Your Life Count for Eternity.

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