Thursday, March 31, 2011

Words from the past

When I got home from work tonight I started packing up a little and getting a few boxes ready for Justin to take back to Dallas when he goes back after this weekend. While I was going through a huge stack f papers I came across 3 opened manilla envelopes addressed to me. I immediately recognized them from our high school youth group retreats. Every year at retreat (usually around January) our youth minister, Rick, would ask us to write a letter to ourselves/God, and then to 3 people at the retreat. The letters were supposed to be encouraging words or tell something you admired about that person. We would then seal them up and turn them in and he would gather all the letters that had been written to you and mail them after like 8 months. By then you forget you ever wrote any letters so when they come its like Christmas day. Anyway, I had 3 years worth of letters and I started to go through them year by year. Some of them were sweet, some casual, some even brought tears to my eyes. Some brought up happy times and some reminded me of some very painful times. But what made me so happy and emotional was to remind myself that others see good in me. That is something that sometimes comes difficult for me, to believe the good that others have to say about me. After reading I thought, "do they really see all that?", or, "what made me stand out to them?" And an even harder question, "What would people see in me now?"

What a beautiful reminder to be an example of God's love to the people I am not even aware are watching me. Even in my most immature days, when I thought no one was watching, when I didnt make the bet decisions, God used me to bless someone's day or perhaps someone's life. And I for sure was blessed by many in that group along the way...thank God for the experiences in the Westover youth group.

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