The Ripple Effect

Happy Mother’s Day! I know it was yesterday, but I hope you mothers out there, enjoyed some well deserved pampering.

My son had a high school championship meet to go to this past Friday. He was supposed to swim two races and then swim two relay races. All the moms of the kids, decided to all sit together so we can cheer on our kids. I sat next to a mom I hadn’t met before. She introduced herself, then she thanked me, and told me how glad she was, that my son was swimming on the team this year. I was a bit confused. Why was she happy and grateful that MY son was swimming on the team? She proceeded to tell me, that because my son is a fast swimmer, his addition to the team, qualified their relay team to go to the high school championships. She said her son didn’t have a fast individual time, so the only way to make the championships, was to swim on a relay team. And my son on the team, gave them a fourth guy, and allowed them to qualify for the championships. I had no idea. My son helped another guy, without even knowing it.

But isn’t that true for all of our lives, as believers. Our presence, alone, sometimes, fixes situations or helps others out. I remember when my husband first started out as a teacher. I had decided to stay home to care for our new family. But my husband’s starting salary was painfully low. I mean, we had to count every single penny. There were times I would put off laundry for the rest of the family, and only wash the hubby’s clothes with the very last of the laundry soap, since he was the one who had to go out into the public. The rest of us stinky people could hide out in the house, looking sad and raggedy. We would pray like crazy for God’s financial help during this time. As always, God was faithful to answer us through raises or something like that. I told my hubby, God answers our prayers, and other get blessed too. If the school district got a raise, it was an answer to prayer for us, but a blessing for everybody in that district.

You want to live near true believers. You want true believers in your communities, near you. We have the Holy Spirit living within us, therefore, bringing the Holy Spirit with us wherever we go. We pray, and God answers our prayers. We follow God’s commands which are beneficial to those living around us. We resist murdering people, committing adultery, stealing, hurting people in any way shape or form. We aren’t perfect, but true believers follow God’s commands for our lives, for the most part.

You might not be aware of it and might never be aware of the ways in which you have helped others out. You, Christian, may be affecting people’s lives, around you, for the good. It could just be your presence alone. You may not ever know what you have done, but God uses all of His children to effect change or answer prayers. It’s said, that believers are the Bible with skin on them. That’s true, but I think it goes beyond that. We effect the circumstances and people around us through the presence of the Holy Spirit, through God answering our prayers, and through our very lifestyle of following God’s commands.

It’s like the ripple effect. Ever watch water, when you toss a rock into it? Waves of ripples extend out from the point at which your rock collided with the water. All those ripples are caused by the one rock getting tossed into the water. We Christians are the rock. And our very presence, often creates ripples that effect others.

So if you are going through something, or feeling down, just remember, your very presence could be positively effecting other people, that you just aren’t aware of. And God is always a two for one God. While He’s answering prayers for one of His children, He is using that circumstance or person to effect change in other people’s lives. He never misses an opportunity to get several things done at the same time. Watch how God works and be amazed.