If you’re like me you some times forget people’s names. I mean not people you don’t know that well, but people you see frequently. Or maybe its a street name or the name of a restaurant. It’s right there on the tip of your tongue, but it just slips your mind for a minute. Then later, usually later in the day, at some random moment it comes to you. You might even say it out loud. And then give yourself a hard time for not remembering it sooner. What you needed was the right reply, the suitable answer, at the right time. What you need is an apt answer. What does apt mean? Suitable and at the proper time. It’s not a word that we hear often, but fits well with today’s blog.
Sometimes the challenge of moving forward in life is that we get stuck. We can even get down on ourselves for being stuck. I often find myself feeling stuck as I navigate from stay at home mom to college grad looking for a job. And from a home filled with kids to an empty nest. Everything is different. Everything is new. It’s not bad, just different. Yesterday was a day like that. Different, new and causing me some anxious thoughts until someone spoke an apt word( the right word at the right time). It was unexpected, but I knew as she spoke it, that it was for me and had been a God moment. What’s a God moment? It’s when you know God has planned something and shown His glory, His goodness, His mercy and even His love in our lives. Yesterday was that moment for me. The right words at the right time. An apt answer.Sometimes we just don’t know what the next step in the journey looks like. It is easy to get stuck, feel unsure of ourselves and looking for the right answer, It can feel like looking for that misplaced name. And then God uses someone to speak an apt word into our lives.
We all need a friend who will give us a word of encouragement, the right word at the right time. In our rushed and hurried world though that doesn’t always happen. We are too busy staring at our phones, tablets and computers, to see the needs around us. And if we are looking for help we search for an app to guide us to the right answer, instead another person. Let me challenge you today to look for that person in your life who needs a word of encouragement. Maybe its someone whom you don’t know well, but from the look on their face, they could use a smile, a compliment, or even a word of appreciation. You could make a huge difference in their day. Proverbs offers this great verse; “A man finds joy in giving an apt reply- and how good is a timely reply” (Pr. 15:23, NIV). We all need a timely word and according to the verse we will find joy in giving it. God Bless- Nancy
Moving Forward 