In my ongoing search to find the balance of doing for God and giving it to God, I loved hearing this true story from a friend.

A week or so ago, a young man of my friend’s acquaintance went to an art show where he ran into an old high school classmate. The conversation between this young man and his high school classmate went deep and the young man shared his concerns with her about an addictive pattern he was struggling with.

Several days later, my friend and this young man were in a local bookstore browsing through the self help section. The young man pulled a book off the shelf about the addiction problem he had discussed with his classmate. As he settled into a chair to leaf through the book, a card fluttered out with his full name written on it. He opened the card to find a message from the classmate whom he had run into at the art show. It said, “Buy this book” and beneath these words was a gift card to cover the cost of the book.

At the art show, this young man and his classmate had had no discussion about this book.

What a magic balance of effort and grace the card writer found. How I admire her clarity about what part was hers to play and what she was to leave to God.

I hope this story gives you the same chills up your spine that it gave me!