She struggled in her mind whether or not to go, and finally called a friend to get a ride just to get there. She searched through her plastic bags and found the best clothes she had so she wouldn't stand out in the crowd. She had made some mistakes in her life but knew within herself; "there has got to be a change." She was abused and running from a bad relationship, she was broken by sin and is looking for a way of escape.
She loads up in the car with a stranger not even knowing if she will have a way back home. She walks through the doors of the CHURCH, she’s not looking for money or any handouts; just a change. She is different from everyone else there.
She’s having a hard time keeping up with her kids who she is raising on her own, her dress is a little shorter than the other ladies in the congregation, her hair is not as nicely fixed, and her makeup is not as properly shaded as theirs; but she has done the best she knows how.
She tries to smile as she makes her way to the pew though she is broken inside. She can feel the people staring at her and sees them whispering out of the corner of her eye.
No one offers to sit with her or even a place to sit, no one speaks to her, no one even welcomes her with a hand shake. She feels more ashamed now than she ever has felt. She holds back her emotions until she makes it back to the small one bedroom apartment.
She lays her kids on the floor for a nap and covers them with a thin blanket that someone had given her.
She goes off into the bedroom all alone and cries herself to sleep, wondering why everyone treats her this way, and never again to walk through the doors of another church, and all she needed was for someone to recognize that she was trying to change.
How we react to people could determine the destination of their soul. Be a Christian who cares about others. Have compassion and make a difference.
Something as simple as a handshake or even just a hello could be the key to the change in someone’s life. All of our gifts and talents are in vain if we do not express love. Love does not pick and choose, it just loves.
James 2:1-4
1 My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.
2 For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment;
3 And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool:
4 Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?
1 Corinthians 13:1
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
Pastor Todd McClain
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