"I will praise the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live." (Psalm 146:2)
I was having one of those days. The kind where I just wanted to crawl into bed and leave the outside world behind until the next morning. But I had a class to teach and I had students depending on me to be there. So, I took a moment to recollect and started praying. Somewhere in the midst of I can't do this tonight, God spoke to my heart.
Earlier in the week, I had read a devotional on being merry. The one sentence that had stood out to me was: "Don't you want to have big Bible adventures?" Well, of course I do. I want a story that joins the ranks of David, Ruth, and Esther. I want a story that reveals God's guiding hand in every area of my life. That reminder helped my prayer to take a 180-degree turn. God, I want to be a blessing to someone today. Help me change this attitude around!
An hour later, I walked into class with a smile, eager to teach a lesson on emails. I had the students sign into their accounts and begin composing emails. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, but then one of my students, a sweet, older woman, told me she shouldn't have come to class. The computer wasn't doing what she wanted it to do and I could tell she was getting frustrated. I decided to send her an email and have her practice responding. My email was short and asked if she had done anything exciting this week. Her response, "God is good," caught me by surprise. Then, I noticed her attitude instantly changed. She was no longer telling me that she shouldn't be in class. Instead, she was laughing and enjoying herself. I figured the change was her finally understanding how emails worked.
When class was over, the sweet woman approached me and said, "I just want to let you know that it was seven months and five hours to the day that my husband passed away when you sent me that email with the Bible verse." At the bottom of every email I compose, Psalm 146:2 is displayed: "I will praise the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live." With tears in my eyes, I hugged her and told her I was so happy she came to class and was looking forward to seeing her at the next one.
When I placed Psalm 146:2 at the end of my email all those years ago, I wanted to let people know that I would praise God through all of life's moments--happy or sad. But I never imagined that God would allow that one verse, placed in my signature, to encourage a widow years later. Not only did it encourage this sweet woman but, when I retold the story, God allowed it to touch even more people. That's why I'm sharing it with you. The seeds you plant today may not sprout until much later, but keep planting anyway. When they finally make their way to the surface, praise God.
--Jessica
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