Share God's Love and Joy!

          Have you had your JOY JUICE today?  Have you tried offering some to a stranger?

            In today’s world, we’ve attached a negative connotation to the word “stranger”.  We teach our children not to talk to strangers and certainly NEVER to go anywhere with one!  There are good reasons to be careful when approached by someone we do not know.

            But there are MANY, MANY good people in our world that are strangers only because we’ve never met them.   Recently, my ministry partners, Team RADIATE and I, were invited to a ladies retreat several hours from home. At the beginning of our weekend, we knew no one except one another. They were ALL strangers to us! And we were strangers to them.  As the weekend progressed, however, we quickly recognized sisters in Christ.

            Isn’t it wonderful how God can do that?  He can take perfect strangers and bring them together in such a way, that they feel as if they’ve know each other for a long time.  It’s all because of His Love. 1 John 4:19 tells us: "We love because he first loved us." 

            Today, I want to challenge you to look for the strangers God puts into your life.  That person in the checkout lane at the grocery store; someone you meet at the doctor’s office; maybe a new neighbor. Whoever it is, God may have set up a “divine appointment”.  Bring JOY to them in some small way! It will come back to you multiplied!

           Share the joy of the Lord with a stranger today….and you’ll be drinking in the sweetness of His love and JOY, as well!