Christian

Finding Your Starfish

Cindy Dawson

Over twenty years ago, I became a special education teacher. I quickly realized that I couldn’t make a difference in every student’s life. But the Lord planted in me the idea that if I could make a difference in just one student’s life, I had accomplished something wonderful.

That’s when I learned the Story of the Starfish. It made such a huge impression on me that I hung a dried starfish on my desk lamp as a reminder (and it’s still there today).

The Starfish Story – Adapted from The Star Thrower by Loren C. Eiseley

A young girl was walking along a beach upon which thousands of starfish had been washed up during a terrible storm. When she came to each starfish, she would pick it up, and throw it back into the ocean. People watched her with amusement.

She had been doing this for some time when a man approached her and said, “Little girl, why are you doing this? Look at this beach! You can’t save all these starfish. You can’t begin to make a difference!”

The girl seemed crushed, suddenly deflated. But after a few moments, she bent down, picked up another starfish, and hurled it as far as she could into the ocean. Then she looked up at the man and replied, “Well, I made a difference to that one!”

This is the same idea the Lord spoke to me about my blog: Don’t pay attention to numbers. Write for individual people.  If just one person is encouraged, that’s something wonderful.

Look around for your starfish – someone you can encourage, or maybe even introduce to Jesus. Now that’s something wonderful!

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” John 13:34 NIV

In His Love, Cindy

Do you want to know more about Jesus? See my page Who Is Jesus?

Pray for Israel

Photo by Pedro Lastra on Unsplash

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34 thoughts on “Finding Your Starfish”

  1. Thank you for sharing this lovely and encouraging story today Cindy. Nearly four years ago a brother told me not to worry about the statistics of my blog; that was one of the best bits of advice I received. I have been driven by the need to share the gospel as much as possible, with believers and unbelievers alike – encouraging and saving some I hope along the way. I really do look forward to meeting some readers when I get to Heaven someday!
    God bless you today sister 🙏

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    1. God’s view of success is completely different than the world’s. And we never know who may have been encouraged and didn’t comment or even click the like button. Or maybe if I led one person to God, they may have led 10 more and then those each led 10 more! It’s all for God’s glory, not ours. We simply trust and obey! God bless you today, Alan!

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  4. This is so beautiful and a wonderful reminder. When I started to be the director of Vacation Bible School in the summer that was always my hope to touch one child. And when I began to preach over ten years ago I always hoped that the Holy Spirit would speak the Lord words through me to the one person who needed to hear the most and afterwards when someone approached me and said thank you for that message I needed to hear I am simply amazed

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    1. Eileen, I have found that if I need what the world calls “success” I will be sorely disappointed. But if I consider what God values I am thankful that He would use me. Thank you for sharing your experience. God bless you and Victoria, today!

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  5. This story really spoke to me, Cindy. It’s easy to get caught up in the world’s definition of success, which usually involves big things like writing books, being a speaker, the clothes and on and on. Or we might focus on being, let’s say, a missionary. But in reality we are all missionaries wherever we are, even in our own homes. May I never forget that one starfish!

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      1. So I don’t want to act like I want to be known and notices – haha – especially after your blog I just read this morning. But I guess I missed a few steps and didn’t put my name on the above comment. It’s just me! And I want you to know that I am the one that was blessed so by your blog this morning. 🙂

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        1. I am so glad you were blessed! I think that if your name doesn’t show on the comment it means you weren’t signed in to your WordPress account. This happens frequently, so sometimes I don’t know who sent the comment . Thanks for letting me know it was you. I hope you have a great day! Blessings, Patty!

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  6. Pingback: Finding Your Starfish – QuietMomentsWithGod

  9. I love this story! Thanks for sharing, I am trying my hand at my own blog and I sometimes get discouraged, this is so encouraging for me to keep trying! Thank you:)

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  10. A while back I started to loose my hearing and want to find a way to sign like I spoke, that’s when I discovered signing English, but all the websites required a fee, then I heard a statistic from a friend who had an autistic child, how her child struggles with ASL and she wanted to know more about signing English as it seemed most autistic children learned better after starting to learn SE or SEE but she was a single parent and had no money for those websites, so for that one starfish we started the Free signing English dictionary. At first those in the SEE community said we had no right to that we were not qualified. We almost gave up, but then we got a couple of people who said that this free dictionary we started made a huge difference in their child’s life. Thanks for the reminder that every individual counts. Each starfish needs life giving water (Christ).

    Once I heard it said that all we do is a drop in the ocean but if each person withholds their drop, the ocean would soon run dry. Thanks for the reminder

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    1. Thank you so much for sharing your story. I hope a lot of people read it. It is so inspiring! I truly believe God puts desires in our hearts when we are seeking Him.
      “Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4
      God bless you today, my friend!

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  11. Thanks for this beautiful encouragement and reminder Cindy. It keeps our hearts and minds aligned with the truth. Being obedient to God’s promptings and serving Him is what truly matters. Like you say we don’t know the effect or impact of what we post but God does. Have a blessed day.

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  14. Cindy, a pastor at a church I used to be a part of told the starfish story when preaching about evangelism. As you alluded to, making a difference in one person’s life is wonderful–and I’m more than happy communicating in-depth with one person at a time or helping that person in some other way.

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