Rarely a day goes by that I don't have a thought of thanks for someone I've never met, yet who changed the course of my life.

When my mom was in college, living the life of a self-described 70s era hippie who grew up in a proper Irish Catholic home in Long Island, God started chasing her down.  This is one story I never get tired of hearing.  Each time it's told, the meaning it holds for my own life washes over me with a sense of total awe at the grace and mercy in the heart of Jesus. Don't ever doubt that God answers your prayers and that the way you shine for Jesus, even without using words, matters.

 My mom transferred to a few colleges in her undergrad days (I must get my wandering, free spirit from her because I've just about matched her in the amount of schools I've attended), and I can totally see how each move was like a divine strategy set up from God for her life.  When she ended up at Colorado State, where she would only spend one semester, she noticed a girl who read a book every morning in the cafeteria.  This girl "glowed", and my mom was convinced that she was either always high on pot or doing some other drug that lifted her mood.  One day my mom decided to ask her about why she always studied so hard in the morning, only to realize that the book the girl was reading was the Bible.  In my mom's world, the only reason you'd read the Bible would be for a theology class or in seminary.  As they got to talking, my mom learned that the girl was a Christian, and the glow on her face was from real, authentic joy.  My mom went to church with the girl, and as a result she was radically saved.  (And radically is a very fitting adjective for this story).

Recently a friend of mine who heard this story made a comment about how, because of that girl who was willing to shine with the glory of God on her campus (regardless of what may have been going on in her own life at the time), not only was my mom's world changed, but mine as well.  Not only does my mom love Jesus, but I love Jesus.  And my kids are going to know Jesus and love him too, as they give their lives for the only one worthy of having all of us.  Woah.

That one girl affected an entire lineage.  Her life invaded lies and darkness, and that invasion changed not just one destiny, but a genealogy.  Sometimes when I think of the enormous weight of the need in our world, my heart finds joy in the truth that it is about seeing "the one".  One person getting wrecked by the love of Jesus has the power to change an entire culture.  A changed heart has significant cultural consequences.  It changes what the person thinks about himself, who he'll be attracted to romantically, who he'll marry, the kids he will raise, what those kids will believe about themselves, the dreams they will have, the things they will believe are possible, the compass that will guide their lives.   Come on!  One girl decided to love Jesus really well, and as a natural overflow, she decided to also love others well, with courage, and now my life is completely different from how it could have ended up.  I thank God frequently for her courage, that she would sit in a cafeteria at a public university and read her Bible.  That she would choose to smile every day, glowing with the love of Jesus, even though I'm sure she faced some hard days.  That she would be willing to invite my mom to church, to love my mom into the Kingdom.

When I hear that story, I feel such a sense of gratitude, and even a sense of being so indebted to that girl's faith and obedience.  I don't even know her name, but she is one of the first people I want to meet in heaven.

When you begin to think your life isn't making an impact, just remember that your smile and the glow of Jesus' presence on your life is going to change people's lives.  It's going to shift their personal atmospheres, whether they are ready for it or not.

May God give us all the grace and courage to love with our whole hearts, seeing with Jesus' eyes.