Colossians 4:5

Hi again! So I just posted something yesterday, but today something happened that I really wanted to share with you guys. It all started this morning when my mom woke me up to get ready to go to the DMV to test for my permit. I did my normal morning routine, well, as normal as it gets in the summer, and I was all ready to go when i remembered to grab something. It was a one dollar bill that my mom had found in a birthday card stuffed into a closet that she happened to be cleaning out. She told me a few days ago, "Alexa, I found some money of yours that was in this old birthday card!" As I walked to the room she was to get it from her I thought , Oh, it's probably only like 2 bucks. whatever. Then Mom said, "It's only a dollar, but still, it's more than you had before." I took it and thought, she's right, it is more than I had before, and I'm blessed to even get this much. It's a gift in disguise, I can use it for a lot of stuff, you know? Then, being the analogy-maker and over thinker I am, I turned it into an analogy: God gives us many blessings. He gives us wins and losses, success and failure, but we should use what he gives us for his glory, no matter how big or small it is. So, I took the dollar bill and I wrote Psalm 104:28 on it, "When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are satisfied with good things." And I decided that I would always keep it with me to remind me to be thankful for EVERYTHING the Lord gives me, no matter how much it is.

Anyways, back to the DMV story, I got my dollar bill and put it in my pocket, and we were off the the Louisiana Department of Motor Vehicles, quite an interesting place to say the least. We got there, took a number and sat down. After all the waiting was over, the test was over (P.S. I passed--PRAISE THE LORD! ), I went to the clerk's desk to get my slip of paper that said when I could come back to take the driving test next year. She was a very personable lady, probably one of the nicest people I've ever met to be honest, and we were making conversation with each other when she asked what was on my arm. I looked down and I still had the first letter of every word in Psalm 62:8 written on the inside of my arm (a very cool memorization trick that Amber taught me at camp!). I told her what it meant and said the verse to her and she just looked at me, as if in awe. I looked back up at her and she said, "Well aren't you special! How did you get so smart?" I told her that it was only by the grace and blessings of God that I had what I had, and that i was even here at all. She asked my why I wrote that on my arm, why I wanted to memorize Scripture like that, and I just told her that as a Christian, it's really important to know what the Word of God says so we can follow it and live according to what it says. She just smiled at me and said, "You are smarter than so many other 15 year olds in the world...even most 50 year olds like me!" I smiled back and said, well that's why I do stuff like this, to have the opportunity to go out and tell people about the joy that I have because of Christ! "That's just so special," she said again. Then it was time to take my picture so I left her there at the desk. It was just a really cool thing to be able to talk to her about that.

I just wanted to share this with y'all to encourage you to be ready for anything, anytime; any moment could be an opportunity to share Christ with others!

"Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity." Galatians 4:5

~Alexa