Black Women Have It Going On

Good morning from Colorado! Yesterday I talked about how God can use anything to accomplish His purpose. I mentioned Samson and that unusual instrument—the jawbone of a donkey—and how sometimes we can become so focused on the instrument that we miss what God may be showing us through it. Well, today I want to tell you about something much more ordinary that got me thinking: a movie and a toy train. The movie is Holiday Affair, a Christmas classic about a young widow raising her son while trying to make ends meet. She works a demanding job that requires her to comparison shop, and during one of her assignments she purchases a toy train. What she doesn’t realize is that her little boy has his heart set on that very train. When she discovers what has happened, she returns it to the store. A store clerk, who has dreams of building boats, ends up purchasing the train for her son. What follows is a story involving love, choices, an engagement, a busybody mother-in-law, and a woman beginning to realize that the life she had planned may not be the life she truly wants.

There is a moment in the movie that stopped me. As the story unfolds, the woman’s fiancé is waiting in the car while she goes to return the train. He makes a statement about how anything can change a life—even a toy train. And I remember thinking, He’s right. Anything can change a life—but I believe it has to be a life that’s ready to change. That thought stayed with me. Sometimes we are standing at the edge of a change and don’t even realize it. God may use a conversation, a person, a book, a song, a circumstance, or yes—even a movie—to cause us to look at our lives differently. But the opportunity to change doesn’t mean we will choose to change. We have to become willing to see something differently, willing to listen, and willing to move when the opportunity comes.

That’s what I believe God was showing me through this movie. The toy train wasn’t magical. The train itself didn’t change a life. It was what that little train set in motion. Sometimes God uses something small to start something much bigger. A seemingly ordinary moment can cause us to question an old way of thinking. It can open a door we didn’t know was there. It can make us realize that what we’ve been holding onto isn’t what we really want anymore. And perhaps that’s why we have to remain open to the unexpected. We never know what God might use to get our attention or change our direction.

Maybe the question isn’t, “What can change my life?”

Maybe the question is:

“Am I ready for my life to change?”

The Call to Action

Today, think about something ordinary that has made you stop and think recently.

Maybe it was something you read.

Something you heard.

A conversation you had.

A movie you watched.

Or perhaps something as simple as a moment sitting quietly with your own thoughts.

Don’t automatically dismiss it because it seems insignificant.

Take it to God and ask:

“Lord, are You trying to show me something?”

And then ask yourself the harder question:

“If You are asking me to change, am I ready?”

Scripture

Isaiah 43:19 (KJV)

“Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it?”

Sometimes God is doing a new thing before we recognize it.

Sometimes the change begins with something so small we almost overlook it.

The question is whether we are paying attention.

15 Minutes with God

Father, help me recognize the moments when You are trying to get my attention.

Give me discernment to see beyond the ordinary and recognize the lessons You may be placing before me.

If something in my life needs to change, prepare my heart to receive it. Give me the courage to release what no longer serves Your purpose and the faith to step into what You are showing me.

Help me remember that You can use anything—a person, a conversation, a circumstance, a book, a song, or even a movie—to turn my attention toward You.

And when You show me something new, help me not only see it, but be willing to change.

In Jesus’ name,
Amen.

I’ll see you tomorrow for another 15 Minutes with God.