Phone Call Grace

I know Christ wants us to show kindness to widows, widowers and those who are alone.  Sometimes they are lonely and a phone call can make so much difference. Unfortunately, I'm not a great conversationalist and I run into two different types of difficulties in these situations.

 One, they just want someone to talk to and want the phone conversation to go on and on long after I've run out of anything decent to say. The other is that they want you to call frequently, which makes it difficult to find the time to do this more regularly and also to find new things to talk about.

 Well, Christ didn't say, "I'm too busy to give my life for Debbie and all those others who think their time is important, so I'll have to rethink this." It makes me much more aware that I have to give up my self-centered ways and say a brief prayer for Phone Grace, knowing that we are befriending those who are alone on Christ's behalf.

Example of a Brief Prayer

But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they. Acts 15:11

I was with someone who was scooping up some free popcorn. They didn't ask me if I wanted any. The person told me that I should get a bag of popcorn and then took it from my hands. They wanted me to get the popcorn for them to eat later.

It's such a silly thing, but it really did irritate me. Didn't that person think about whether I wanted some or not? Couldn't they have asked me if I wanted some before they took it from my hands? I found myself getting frustrated at that person. Then, it popped into my mind that that's not what Christ wants of me. He wants me to be gracious to those who irritate me, but I was too frustrated to be gracious at that moment.

What I prayed was, "Popcorn Grace," and immediately Christ calmed me down, so that I didn't respond to the person in a less than positive manner. Although the "Popcorn Grace" prayer was very brief, I was asking Christ to please give me grace with this popcorn situation, so I would respond in a gracious manner, and He did! It amazed me that He knew and understood my brief prayer and granted me that grace, so I could be more gracious as an example of how He works in my life! I have continued to use these brief prayers which are changing my life and my response to others. If Christ can do this for me, He can most certainly do it for you, as well. Try it...what can it hurt?