When my four kids were all very young and my husband was incessantly working incredibly long hours, I arrived at a particular Wednesday night church service extremely exhausted. Though my season of life was busy, the midweek service, which was one of my lifelines during that challenging time period, was a high priority to me.

As I wearily sat down with my four little ones in the sparsely populated sanctuary, I immediately noticed a new person a few seats down from me in my row. Typically I am eager to meet new people at church and make them feel welcome, but at this moment in time, I conscientiously chose not to reach out. Being mentally and physically exhausted, I just wasn’t up for engaging with anyone, especially someone new.

Within seconds this new person was leaning over and introducing herself to me. Her initiative took me by surprise. Soon she had explained to me that throughout her various moves and new starts in churches, she had learned it was best not to wait for people to reach out to her but for her to take initiative. Wow. Impressive. While I regretted my own lack of initiative towards her, I was thankful for her kindness towards me.

Over the next year and a half while God had this extraordinary lady in our church before she had to move again, she was a tremendous blessing to my family. In the end, I even threw her a surprise going-away party and choked up while trying to publicly express my gratitude for her. This godly woman, who’s life intersected with mine for such a brief time, is forever etched in my memory, and I would love for all of us to be just like her. Showing grace. Showing initiative.

I do not have a picture of the godly lady to share with you, but I chose this one to represent her since her beauty reminds me of the Christian that stepped into my life on a day when I was too weary to step into hers.