Welcome to the
Brenda Bates website. I am a Christian who loves 
to
write inspirations, meditations, poems, and prayers. Many of the
things I write about are inspired by a simple thought shared by
someone else or through a personal event that I experience on my
own. I never know when to expect them but I'm always amazed when it
happens.
Sometimes it takes place while
listening to a sermon or a song, reading an email or devotional, and
sometimes while sharing a moment of laughter with a friend or family
member. This time it was experienced while visiting
prison.
One of
my favorite inspirations, “God's
Special Time" was written while serving on a Kairos weekend
(prison ministry). While visiting with the inmates, I realized
how easy it is to show compassion for complete strangers when we
leave our homes and enter into their environement. I was
reminded by one of the inmates, as he observed from the corner of
the room, that we are the examples of what they want to be. We are,
in some cases, the only examples of Christian unity that they are
able to witness. One person admitted that he was looking for
our flaws and trying to figure out why we were so happy to serve
them in this capacity. He confessed that when he was on the
streets this type of happiness was only experienced by using
drugs and alcohol. What is it about Christians that makes
them so happy? By the end of the weekend he approached me
again, only this time to say, "I understand now. You folks get
high on serving others. Your high is being filled with the
Spirit." That's a high that I want to experience
daily.
I believe that we are all good spirited people
yet we are all guilty of not giving God our full attention or
His rightful place in our lives. When we become complacent we are
not remembering that God was not created for us, we are created
for God. I hope you enjoy "God's Special
Time" and pray that you can see a part of your life through
this story as well.
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Special
Announcement: Brenda's first book, "A Spiritual
Journey In His Path" was recently released and is now
available for purchase. Please click here to order your
copy.
