The Card

Proverbs 15:23
A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth: and a word spoken in due season, how good is it!

I am finding my world a bit too negative for my liking.  I have had about 6 weeks of negative situations creeping into my life where I've had to deal with so many things that I have slowly coiled myself into a ball and pretty much shut out the world.  I just couldn't take much more.  I was on autopilot.  Counsel rejected by those who sought it in the first place, anger over counsel, harsh words biting at my soul, heartbreaking decisions that will certainly leave life long scars.  Last night I laid that all out to the Lord, including the demoralized feelings I had at my worth in His plan and life in general.  Yeah, melodrama at it's best, but can I get an amen from you who have been there, done that??  It's in those moments that Jesus does what He does best.  This morning I awoke to the card on the kitchen table.

My birthday was a couple of weeks ago and I received a variety of cards jabbing at my ever increasing years and all the effects that time has on a person.  I love them because they are funny and often true!  My family and friends are a funny lot, let me tell you!  The belated card from my friend, Jen, was no different.  You see, the relationship between Jen and I is very layered, but right above the foundation of Jesus is our love of laughing...and usually at each other!  When I opened and saw two seriously old women playing cards and the first comment starts with one talking of getting her belly button pierced, I knew it was gonna be a good one.  It was.  But that wasn't the best part of the card.  It was the words written in the card.  Jen had proceeded to lay out about 10 different ways that my life had impacted hers.  Very specific ways. Things that I have done, words that I have said, tough things that we've endured together.  Honestly, it was tough to get to the end of the note through the tears that had welled up in my eyes.  Jesus had used my precious friend and her words to bring rain to a soul that was as dried and cracked as a sun baked field.  Jesus knew I desperately needed evidences that I mattered to His kingdom, to the people around me, to Him.  I wish I were strong enough to believe it all the time, but frankly, I just am not.  Oh, I KNOW I do, but believing and knowing are as different as night and day.... or heaven and hell.  Sometimes, many times, I need to hear it.  I cannot begin to articulate how much that impacted me and my day.

Why do I share this?  I've been listening to/reading about/researching the subject of affirmation of late.  God has made it clear to me that one of the gifts He has bestowed on me is the gift of exhortation.  I love cheering people on in life, and have been told that I am good at it.  It comes naturally to me and brings me joy.  However, lately, I've been drawn deeper into the study of it because I don't believe I do it as well as I could.  I want to be an encourager of extraordinary proportions...the kind who draws others to Christ.  In this quest, I was listening to an author, Sam Crabtree, talk of this very issue and just how important this gift is in the body of Christ and the unsaved world.  Amen.  I am evidence of that, my friends.

So what about you?  Is there someone that the Lord has been urging you to encourage today? Please, for their sake, do not ignore that urging! Be that rain to their soul and that word spoken in due season....