"That your joy may be full..."

These last two weeks, I (Melissa) had the privilege of working with an adorable three-year old girl from our church. Her name is Lana Dizon. We spent our time playing games together and doing some constructive crafts in order to help her learn English.

I discovered that Lana loves to color and work on puzzles, loves to read books, and loves to have someone’s undivided attention for four whole hours☺

Lana is a little social bug. Since she was so determined to verbally communicate with me, she constantly asked me questions and chattered away in Tagalog. I tried my best to understand what she was saying with the little amount of Tagalog that I knew.:-) Most of the time I had to just smile and nod, since I did not fully comprehend what she was talking about.

Little Lana Dizon is a quick learner. Although she only knew how to speak Tagalog, she really wanted to learn how to speak English—which was obvious as she picked up many new phrases and words during our time together. Wish I were that quick with languages!

The hours I spent with little Lana were so precious. God showed me that any act of service--whether we give our time, a smile, a hug, or a word of encouragement to someone--He uses them to not only make a difference in that person’s life… but He also blesses our lives in ways we never would have imagined.

"As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full." John 15:9-11.