The Gift of Reading Scripture I Almost Missed

Do any of you have experience with video editing?

I have a little.

I am not expert by any means, but I can get by. However, a better question may be, how many of you are experienced with frustrations? Because that is what my issue was—frustration.

Early in the Christmas season last year, I had to edit a video, and when I received it, it didn’t seem that the words were matching up with the person talking. I know how to adjust that, but for some reason whatever I was doing was not working. And I was frustrated, because again, I am not an expert, but I know how to do this! Yet no matter what I did, it seemed to be getting worse and worse.

And this went on for a few hours (I am not kidding. I am not one to easily give up… obviously!)

So, after getting frustrated and trying everything I could to make this work, I looked closer. And realized that it was about 4 seconds into the video clip when the words stopped matching up when the person was talking. (Can I tell you a pet peeve of mine? When I am watching something, and the words don’t match up with someone’s lips! It is so distracting.) I asked my husband’s dad if he noticed anything in the video and he said the same thing.

God works in mysterious ways… Click To Tweet

A .25 Second Gift

I looked into it more, and for some reason there was a .25 second difference at about that four second mark. So I cut the audio, moved the audio over a bit, and I got my problem fixed!

Now I don’t know about you, but when I can’t figure something out, I get upset, and flustered. 

I also can get flustered at traffic, when I drop my keys and I need to be somewhere quick, when people are late, when I go to three stores to find something, and not one has what I need. 

And I rarely will see frustrations as a gift when I am in the moment.  But let me tell you about these .25 seconds. Because these .25 seconds were a gift.

Related Post: The One Reason My Feelings Shouldn’t Affect My Obedience

Reading Scripture

My husband’s grandfather was not doing well. He was diagnosed with cancer sometime last year, and he was now declining quickly. He is my daughter’s first love (besides my husband). They adore each other, and his heart is so tender for her. When she was younger sometimes, he was the only one who could calm her down when she was crying. 

And sometime in the middle of Autumn I felt like God put on my heart to read Scripture to him. I wish I could sit here and tell you that I immediately did that. I wish I could say, that you should listen to God, and do what He says, because I did.

But if I told you that, I would be lying.

My first reaction was that I was hearing God wrong. He wouldn’t want me to read Scripture to my husband’s grandfather, that is weird (yes, I feel like the worst believer writing this). But that little nudge in my heart never went away. 

So, I was like, okay maybe if the opportunity presents itself I will do it. So one day I went in to check on him and noticed that he had a Bible by his bed.  If that wasn’t another nudge from God to do it, I don’t know what is. But that wasn’t the day I started reading to him.

The Blessing of Obedience

There was another day I was at their house, trying to fix this video, and when I arrived the grandfather was sleeping. The hours went by, and I finally fixed this little .25 second problem. I was going to leave, but the grandfather was awake. I went in to say hi, and see how he was and I got enough courage to ask him about the Bible by his bed, and if I could read him a passage.

For some reason Psalm 23 was on my mind, so I read that. After he said “that was my wife’s favorite passage. She used to read me from that Bible every night before going to sleep. Do you see the bookmarks? Those are hers marking her favorite passages. If you flip through the Bible she also underlined some of her favorite passages.”

Say what?!?!

I didn’t know that. I couldn’t have known that, but God did. And I will tell you that wasn’t the last time I read him Scripture. There were a few others times, as his health declined. 

I tried to find the passages his late wife had underlined, because I knew they were important to her. And each time he had a look of peace on his face.

A Memory That Will Last A Lifetime

The last time I read to him was the night before he passed away. His daughter FaceTimed me while I was sledding with my children. I cried as I said goodbye, and thanked him for loving my daughter so well. 

She asked me to pray over him, and I knew exactly what scripture I was going to read to him before he met Jesus face to face. 

Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

Luke 23:42-43

God’s Word never returns void, and His Word is a gift. I need to remember that and remember it every day. I need to remember that His Word is not bound, imprisoned, or chained by anything (including my fears and excuses).

I almost missed the gift of reading Scripture to my husband’s grandfather. I almost missed what God had before me, in something that was familiar to him.  And I almost missed it because of fear, and hesitancy. But I am so thankful for a .25 second glitch. The gift that allowed me to live out what God had put on my heart. 

Join the Conversation

The Word of God is the best gift we can offer someone. Who do you need to share it with?

Maybe you need to share a verse with someone. Maybe you need to buy someone a Bible. Maybe you need to read someone Scripture as they are about to pass on from this world into the next.

Ask Him.

Let’s all ask Jesus to help us be aware of the opportunities He puts in our lives. The opportunities that are really gifts, just like the gift of a .25 second glitch.

Join Jessica on Candidly Christian as she shares how a .25 second glitch became a treasured gift. Click To Tweet