Letters of Hope

This afternoon I sat down to write a letter to a friend of mine and I turned on my Christmas station on Pandora and had my coffee and pen ready. As I began to write I realized how much I wanted to send encouraging thoughts and love but I was looking for ways to make myself look intelligent or kind. I was not letting God speak through me and encourage my friend. So I looked to my favorite scriptures and realized I knew exactly what to say because it was spelled out to me through all the Psalms and Proverbs.  

One of my favorite Psalms is "When you said, Seek my face my heart said to you your face, Lord, I will seek," -Psalms 42:1-2. So in seeking my Lord's face I have come across various ways I can bring hope or encouragement into someones life. One is by writing letters to children in foreign countries who are learning to read English. Another way is Bryan Outreach which is a outreach program that my campus ministry holds where we go and play with the children and teach them about the bible.. ( A whole post will be dedicated to this later with pictures!) :)

At Christmas time many opportunities are brought to light on how you can buy gifts and support less fortunate children and their families. As a broke college student I cannot financially help in that way but so many organizations need prayer and some even need help from volunteers to manage different parts of the programs. I would encourage everyone to find a way in this Thanksgiving week just one way that they could make an impact in someones life this holiday season. A child's big smile is worth more than any other gift I could receive which for a college student is a big deal :) 

God uses us all in different ways because He has blessed us differently some with more money than others, some with more time than others and still some with more counseling abilities than others. I have learned a lot about using your own God-given gifts from my roommate who uses her musical abilities to impact lives around her. She doesn't set out pridefully to change lives because of her beautiful music but humbly and before God plays her praises and God uses her hands and voice to mold hearts to His own heart. She is a beautiful example of using her gifts for God's glory. We all have people who have impacted our lives and I would challenge everyone I meet to find just one way God has blessed you and find a way to use that to impact someone else's life.

God Bless and have a wonderful Thanksgiving week!