That's why it happened

I recently entered a staff member’s office to find them distraught. They’d been working pretty hard on a project and even though they had given their all to it, they were still being pretty highly criticized. I could tell they were really discouraged, to the point that they really wanted to let loose and just blast some people. I tried to encourage them, but I could tell I didn’t get very far. I went away, and I really began to pray cause I was genuinely concerned for them.

Later on that day, I had the occasion to observe them. They were talking to some of the very people who had criticized them earlier. To be honest, I was a little nervous. I wondered how they’d respond. I was amazed as I observed them. I don’t use this phrase very often, but I can honestly say the Holy Spirit was all over them. I watched as they handled that situation with love and great grace, so much so that I was really blown away. I could tell that something had happened and I knew it wasn’t anything I had said.

Later on, I caught them in the hallway and said, “Wow, you really handled that well.” They looked at me and said: “Pastor, after I talked to you, I spent the whole afternoon just praying and reading God’s Word and something happened in my own heart. God just took the burden away. He’s the one who gave me the strength to do what I did.”

I think it was the next day that he added something else interesting. He said, “I was sharing what happened with someone close to me what happened and when I told him about how I had spent the afternoon in prayer, he said, ‘, maybe that’s why it happened.’”