¹² No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. ¹³ By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. ¹⁴ And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. ¹⁵ Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. ¹⁶ And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

1 John 4:12-16 [NKJV]

Today has been one of those truly, much-needed mid-week public holidays. I am thankful, I am grateful that we have been given this mid-week break from everything. I say that especially within the context of everything that I am currently facing and overcoming in my life. In many ways, everything that I am facing today feels like this storm that is still raging around me. In the context of everything, I kinda know that the storm will be dying down soon (in a few months time when things stabilize for me), so I am also reminding myself that whatever I have to do, and whatever I need to do to hang on and make it through the next few months, I know that things will get better soon. I can finally see the end of the tunnel.

Experiencing God Through Love & Compassion

I think that is where I really want to begin for today’s daily bread reflections. I want to talk about how I have been able to experience God in recent weeks. And how I could experience Him has been through the various acts of kindness and compassion that others have shown me in recent weeks. In some ways, I could sense that this is God acting through them. In my previous daily bread entry, I wrote about the story of the drowning man. And it is in those moments that God will sometimes answer our prayers for help by sending different people into our lives to offer us help. And we have to be able to recognize that when it happens.

And it is with this recent personal experience that I now understand and realize how much God loves me. Because I can feel it through the kindness and compassion of others around me. And not all of them happens to be the ones that are closer to me. Turns out, a lot of the kindness and compassion that I got to experience came from the most least expect people. It is also through them that I really got to experience and learn the meaning of real compassion, real kindness.

Showing Others Who God is By Giving Them the Same Love/Kindness & Compassion

After my recent interactions and encounters with these kind souls that I’ve also saw how I could show others who God is. Certainly not by trying to preach the bible to them. No. It’s by showing them real kindness, and compassion. I loved how the study notes provides guidance for individuals like myself, introverts. It explains that it’s not about how many people to love (or to help), but it is about how much we love (how far we are willing to go) someone. When we decide that we want to help someone, it isn’t about recognition, or how many we can help. To really help someone, it’s about putting our whole hearts into helping them. I guess, another way to describe this would be the “intensity” of our kindness and compassion towards those we are trying to help.

I suppose this is also God’s way of laying out a path/plan for me. After everything that I have experienced in recent times, I am determined to some day be in the same position to help someone out. And no, I am not interested in any kind of recognition. That is not my motivation or reason. I’ve found yet another purpose for my life. I want to dedicate it to be of service to others. And I mean, to really serve, however way I can. And it isn’t about how many I help either. If I can only help 1 or 2, I think that is more than good enough too. But if I can help more, I will.

For now, I think I am not done yet when it comes to experiencing God’s love through the kindness and compassion of others. My situation is still in the midst of getting better, and improving slowly. It will be a while before I can truly say that things are truly better. So until then, I will continue to remain humble and I will continue to be grateful for the kindness and compassion that others have offered to me (just like the man on the roof).

Personal Prayer for Today

Dear Heavenly Father,

I want to take a moment today to thank You for everything that You have done for me in recent days and weeks. I want to give You thanks for showing me how much You love me, and the abundance of Your grace and mercy. I am also really grateful for all of the generous kindness and compassion that I got to experience from others. Often from the people that I would least expect.

It is through this personal life experience that I’ve got to understand that the easiest (best) way for us to show others who God is through acts of love, kindness and compassion. It isn’t about the number of people we try to help, but rather the lengths that we would be willing to go to help that one person. It’s about doing it wholeheartedly and with pure intentions.

Thank You for giving me this blueprint and plan, so I have something that I can follow and work towards. I know that my situation right now is still gradually improving, so there isn’t much I can do to be of service to others yet. But when I can, and when I am able to, I will take this lesson that I have learned today (and in recent days), and I will apply it to helping others, to be of service to them.

Once again, I give You all of the thanks, and all of the praise and glory. In Jesus’ name I pray.

Amen.