“I may not lead a thousand people all at once…but I can lead a thousand people one at a time.” ~ Joey Lichnovsky
On April 2nd we attended the 40 days to Life Gala in the Woodlands. Former Vice President Mike Pence opened his speech to a room full of 800 guests about a country preacher who had decided to start a Sunday evening service in his community. When only one farmer showed up for the evening service, the preacher looked at the farmer and said,
“Well, what are we gonna do?”
The farmer said, “Preacher, I may not be good at speaking, but what I do know is when you call the cattle in to be fed and one shows up…you feed him.”
AMEN! Joey and I left that night and as we reflected on the speakers from the evening and the great people we met, he looked at me and said, “Erin, I may not lead a thousand people all at once…but I can lead a thousand people one at a time.”
For as long as we’ve been married, Joey has modeled to our family the value of being faithful in the little. He’s always asking the question, “Who’s eyes do we want to be famous in?” What is it that God has put right in front of us now to be faithful with and who is it in our life now that we are called to reach out to? Kingdom work doesn’t look like the world. It’s often quiet and goes unnoticed by society. This is another reason why we do Gateway.
Who is your ONE?
Who has God placed in your life that you can have an impact with? How can you serve that person and show the love of Christ this week? Ask God to show you that one person and spend some time walking with them, praying with them, and getting to know them better. If you are not sure, ask the Lord to bring you those divine appointments.
It’s hard in our culture to focus on the one. We are busy building social media likes and gaining followers. Many don’t see the value in nurturing deep relationships and growing disciples. Jesus sets the example for us. He spent most of his time on earth with the 12 and he modeled for us discipleship calling us to follow.
This has been a busy week for our household. On top of a new daily schedule for cancer treatment that has just begun, we also had four birthdays, my parent’s anniversary, and Easter Sunday…all in one week. When we arrived home from church, we realized that the keys had been locked in one of the cars and we now needed to call on roadside assistance. Another thing I’ve learned from Joey, is that “the thing is never the thing”. Although it was an inconvenience in that moment, the Lord brought the roadside assistance guy to our door to break into our car, not just to get the keys out, but also to hear the gospel. Being Easter weekend, it was easy to ask him,
“Do you know Jesus as your Savior?”
He smiled and glowed and pointed to his Christian t-shirt, “you bet!” We gave him a bible to share on the job, along with a copy of the Roman road and the Lord reminded us once again that our inconveniences are His divine appointments and a way for us to encourage others.
Living with throat cancer has opened many different doors and allowed me to meet people I would not have met before. Recently, as I was struggling with my digital coupons at the self-checkout at Kroger, I asked the cashier to help. She heard my scratchy voice and asked what was wrong. When I told her that I was battling cancer and had a tumor on my vocal cord, the Kroger cashier asked me if she could lay hands on me and pray for my healing. Right there at work, with the cameras directly above her, with both courage and gentleness she laid hands on me and prayed over me. When she finished, we hugged as fellow believers in Christ and I knew that the Lord had sent a cashier named Silver to me that day to bring encouragement and remind me that,
“The Lord my God is with me wherever I go.” Joshua 1:9
Just ONE Thing
God has shown his love to us in new and special ways by the simple power of one. My life has had to slow down as I go through seven weeks of treatments. Here’s just a short list of how friends and even strangers have encouraged me and poured out God’s love in small and simple ways with one thing.
- An early morning prayer text with scripture.
- A bouquet of flowers from a loving neighbor.
- A trip to Costco from my amazing mom.
- A homecooked dinner delivered to my door.
- A doordash or grubhub gift card.
- A close friend dropped off a couple dozen eggs from her farm.
- A family who is so mindful of our needs during this season that each of my adult kids have signed up for a driving day to get me to and from the hospital.
- An old friend driving me to the hospital followed by a lunch where she encouraged me with her testimony of overcoming breast cancer.
- A teacher from our classical school who began recording read alouds. (This was a huge answer to prayer since I can no longer read out loud to my youngest.)
Be encouraged and continue to share your story with other this week and invest in the lives of those around you!