God is Good

Time after time God shows me His goodness and how much He loves me. Lately He has been blessing me with opportunities to be an encouragement to several of my friends. I know I would not have had these opportunities had my eyes not been opened and my heart been softened. It's a feeling of freedom when you break out of the box you've been a prisoner of for so long - the sad thing is that I put myself in that box! I only saw myself and really didn't see much further than my hand, the box surrounded me with what I wanted to focus on and it got to the point where I couldn't see the problems and needs all around me. I mean I did see them but I was too busy with my own life and didn't really care to reach out or put forth any time and effort.
 A couple weeks ago God began to give me opportunities to share my testimony and share encouragement with friends both new and old. It seems like at least once a week He will send someone my way and when this happens my heart literally sings praise and thanksgiving because I am being used by God! What an awesome feeling to know that God would use someone like me as a tool in another person's life. You really can use mistakes you've made in the past or situations you've experienced to encourage and counsel someone else....makes it all worthwhile.

I had a broken relationship with someone who I hadn't talked to in about 4 years. I hate tension so to go 4 years with guilt and bitterness made me burdened. Over these past couple of months I have felt compelled to contact him and make amends - "bury the hatchet" so to speak - but fear stopped me. Time went on and his name kept popping into my head every now and then but i kept pushing it away. This Sunday night, out of the blue, I recieved an email from him simply to say "hi" and wanting to know how I was doing. He said that certain things over the past couple of weeks had reminded him of me and he wanted to check in with me. I was a little taken aback at first but excited because I knew that without a doubt that this was of God. About a week ago I asked the Lord to search my heart and He knew this was something that needed to happen in order for me to let go of some of my anger and bitterness. God is good. The burden has been lifted and this individual and I are working on a friendship again. I truly believe God can and will use me in this person's life.

Another exciting thing over the wknd -- i have a new puppy!! Her name is Lilly and she is a little 1 lb 10 oz ball of black fur. so cute, she looks like a bear cub :)