A Thought on Texting

Tonight I had an interesting thought on texting and God. For some reason I felt a little down today, and two people contacted me that really encouraged me. One, my friend Mary called and thanked me for sharing last night in our college group. I had prayed that I could share with my brothers and sisters something that would encourage them and point them to the Lord, and she said that what I had said was encouraging. I was blessed to have the opportunity to speak to 50 or so of my brothers and sisters about what the Lord's been doing in life, and to tell them just how awesome our Lord is in his character. Two, my friend Joe K. texted me that he was thinking about me. His text at about 10pm really encouraged me. Joe is a man I've learned to greatly respect and love. God blessed me with the opportunity to get to know him when I first arrived at Masters in January, and God has challenged and encouraged me through him. He's in the top four people that have challenged me the most. Getting a random text from him just reminded me of the past year that we've known each other, and of the love that he's shown me.
I was doing my devotional and praising the Lord for the encouragement of my brother and sister today, and I stopped and though... 'You know, the Lord is always sending a text of encouragement in his Word.' I'm not sure why, but it really comforted me. I opened up 1 John and read through it. As much as the Lord has blessed me with brothers and sisters here that have encouraged me (Joe, Greg, Tanner, Kent, Dave W., Jody, Amanda, Josh, Siona, and the list could go on forever!), my greatest comfort and encouragement is from the Lord. While the Lord encouraged me today through contact from his children, I never need to wait for a text or phone call from one of my brothers and sisters to be encouraged. I have a Father who gave me one big 'text': His Word.
Encouragements from the Lord from my reading today:
1 John 1.9 'If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.' - what an amazing promise that is! All we must do is confess our sin, our Lord Jesus has already done all the work to save us from damnation. Do I have to wait until my life is perfect to come to the Lord in prayer? No! I humbly come before the Lord and confess my sin to him, and he is faithful to forgive me of my sin.
1 John 4.10 'In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent the Son to be the propitiation for our sins.' - Whose love encourages me? My family's, my friends'. Does that facebook comment from a friend cheer me because of their love? Does that random phonecall bring a sweetness because I know of their love? But, what an amazing Person has loved me! Love hates hypocracy, and His love is perfect. Friends and family's love, while a blessing, is never perfect - but His love is! My Father loved me so much that he sent his Son to die for me. For ME. What an outstanding demonstration of love. Talk about a great text. I needn't wait to have that pop up on my cell phone, that's a truth that can always encourage me. Encourage me to love my Savior ever more, for how can I ever understand that love?
1 John 4.19 'We love because God first loved us.' - This verse never ceases to make me stop and think. I cannot love on my own, I love only because God loved me first. I only love Christ, because God first loved me and sent his Son to die for me. I can only love my brothers and sisters because God has given me the love to do so. Then, I thought, I am only loved by my brothers and sisters because of God's love to them first. Praise to God from whom all blessings flow! God has so greatly blessed me with a family, both biologically and spiritually. I am very much a 'people person' and am very encouraged by those that the Lord has brought into my life. It's astounding for me to remember not only that the Lord brought those relationships into my life - but the very fact that those I call dear can love me is only because of God's love to them.

I think of James 1.17, 'Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow of change.'
1 - I praise the Lord for his abundant blessings to me. For those I am so blessed to be loved by.
2 - I praise the Lord for his unfathonable love towards me and my brothers and sisters in his Son.
3 - I praise the Lord for his Word.

Mocktails

Last night was Jody, Amanda and I's mocktail party! It was an absolute blast... we had shirley temple's, roy rodgers, apple cider, and played christmas movie charades, christmas trivia, and christmas song charades. We had a great time hanging with our borthers and sisters from Hotchkiss and a couple other dorms. The three of us made amazing cookies from cake mixes, especially a peanut butter cookie. The disco ball and christmas lights made it fun. We had an awesome time.