To Encourage You

I write this to you with Kirk Franklin playing in the background and tears in my eyes. I am supposed to be getting ready for Zumba class, but a few thoughts are floating around in my head. I’m listening to Kirk Franklin sing, “I’d rather have Jesus than silver and gold.” I can’t tell you how much of my life I spent thinking that money would buy me happiness. Ironically the times I wasn’t worried about money or bills, I still didn’t have the happiness I thought money would bring me. Earlier this week I was listening to a message where the preacher said that you had to be broken over and over again for God to get the full glory in your life. As I listened to what he said, I cried because I have been broken over and over again. In my relationships, in my career, in my health, and definitely in my finances. Broken to the point where I thought I wouldn’t get back up. But I did. I got back up, and I kept believing in the sovereignty of God. When I started writing I promised God that I would always be real with people. I don’t sugar coat anything, and I’m transparent about my experiences. The reward has been that prayerfully my writing has given others hope and a desire to share their own experiences, and all I can do is thank God that He trusted me enough to do this. Let me repent right now for thinking that this is a small thing. Let me repent for selfishly thinking that the breaking was a punishment. It was awful and I hated it at the time, but now I see that it was so much bigger than me. I don’t know what is most valuable to you, but I have learned that a life devoted to God and fulfilling his purpose is the source of my joy. Today I leave you with this verse from Romans 8:18 to encourage you. “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”