Who Inspires You?

Have you ever met someone who inspired you to share the love of Christ? My husband and have been fortunate to have two such people in our lives.
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We first met the Lamberts after my husband got out of the military and we moved to Helena, Montana. The Lamberts were a deacon family who took us under their wings when we were 

Stephanie Rogge

looking for a church to be part of. They made us part of their family and became like a surrogate father and mother in the Lord to us. But as special as the Lamberts were to us, it was their daughter, Vicky, who inspired us.

Vicky struggled with cancer for 20 years. When we met her, she had already been through 10 years of treatments. If it hadn’t been for the physical changes the treatments made to her appearance, you would not have known Vicky was ill because of her demeanor. The love of Christ literally showed through her. It was like she glowed! Her thoughts were not of herself, because she felt the needs of others were more important. Her view on life was that God has given us a number of days which only He knows, so it was best not to waste them. She expressed God’s love through caring for her parents who were not in good health. She never missed calling them each night to check up on them, even when she was violently sick. When she was able to attend church, her concern was for people in need or those who just needed a listening ear. Eventually, God took Vicky home, but the work that she did continued through others who were inspired by her God-given concern for others.

God also blessed us by bringing Frank into our lives. Frank was the manager of the apartment building in which we lived. If you had the time and would let him, Frank would share scripture for hours. He was an encourager and would use scripture to both encourage and to teach. His ministry was mostly to young men, but anyone who spent time with him walked away feeling uplifted. Frank had diabetes and went into a diabetic coma one day. When he came out of the coma, he discovered that he had lost most of his sight and a lot of the feeling in his legs and feet. Later, he developed gangrene in one leg and had to have it amputated. You would think that not being able to see well and not being able to get around well could discourage him, but Frank wasn’t discouraged. We would go to the hospital to see him or to his house in order to encourage him, but instead walked away encouraged ourselves. What a gift of God! The joy of the Lord and His Word is what lifted Frank up each morning; God used Frank to spread that joy. He made people laugh and smile until the day God took him home.

I can think of other people who God brought across our paths, but talking about them would make this posting too long. The one thing that these people had in common and which inspired my husband and me was that God was the most important thing in their lives. Every moment of their lives was focused on Him, and, as a result, God used them to minister His love to others. I only pray that God will use us the same way.

Proverbs 30:5 ESV - Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. 
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Yours in Christ,
Stephanie