Do you, as a reader of GraceNotes, realize that even if you aren’t one of the writers, that you are a blessing to those who put it all together? A Christian writer may write for years before he or she is assured that what they write is really worth something more than printed words. One of the ways that GraceNotes readers do this is to go to the Internet site to read.
Another aspect is to respond to the articles that speak especially to you by sharing what helps you. Certainly appreciative comments on this site encourage the writer. However, when we readers share the ways we apply what we read it gives the writers a sense of knowing God is using them as servants. Such response provides refreshment for the writer’s faith.
So, why do I mention any of this? It’s because all of us are in this ministry together. Yes, I’m one of the writers but I also am a reader and I comment on the work of other writers because I’m blessed by their words. That’s one reason I, like many of you, share some of the articles with those who don’t use the Internet. Thus, blessings are enlarged.
Black-Velvet Hours of Night
Much of what I write is written during the black-velvet hours of night. It’s God’s meds for me to get me through sleeplessness, due to pain. One of my prayers is that is that He will use me to bless someone out there who may also be sleepless in the night. And guess what? One of you, a woman named Myrna, read a particular article that blessed her at 2:49 a.m. She lives in New York, I live in Georgia. We blessed each other—and certainly those who are the caretakers of GraceNotes are blessed, knowing a global ministry launched in faith through cyberspace in 2006 is a ministry e-x-p-a-n-d-i-n-g with blessings.
My heart feels gladdened when I read in The Message Bible about how the apostle Paul was aided in his work by the others who chose to help him carry the message! In Romans chapter 16, Paul points out and commends 29 people specifically, plus groups in Rome who served in ministry together. Women and men, young and old; he even mentioned the mother of one who was like a mother to him. And Paul pointed out in the previous chapter, 15, how he needs help in carrying out his highly focused assignment—and he also requested “pray for me.” Is this not being in ministry together?
And what better words to conclude with than to quote precisely how Paul ended chapter 16, with his emphasis on all of us being in this together, praising God, “All our praise is focused through Jesus on this incomparably wise God! Yes!” (Romans 16:27).
