A Letter to You

A Letter to YOU!

This is a letter to you from whoever you need it to be from. It could be from your mom or dad, a grandparent, brother, sister, aunt or uncle. Maybe a friend, co-worker, cousin or neighbor. Perhaps from your priest, pastor or rabbi. Or from your spouse or girlfriend or boyfriend. Maybe a stranger and yes, maybe even God Himself.

The Holy Spirit had been speaking to me for sometime about writing a letter to everyone. I was a bit puzzled as to the why, but as with many things the Lord asks me to do…I seldom know the why at the time.

Normally I don’t ask for people to pass on the things I put out there, but for some reason I believe this letter needs to reach many people. Please pass it on. Thank You!

I am going to let The Holy Spirit take over my fingers and we will all see what He has for us to hear…This letter is for you.

June 2, 2015 @ 4:44pm

Dear You~

I wanted you to know that I don’t always voice what I see or hear. I don’t always show my appreciation, affection or approval. Sometimes I just figure it’s not important or not needed; however, recently I have found out you didn’t know what I’ve seen in you. So, I no longer want that to be a mystery to your heart. I want to put in writing exactly what I want you to hear. That way there will never be any wondering or any doubt.

I have seen you much of your life. I saw the joy you experienced in moments of your childhood and I saw the great pain you endured as a small child when you thought you disappointed the people you loved most. Know that in those years you were a complete joy to those that truly knew you. Like me…I saw the beauty of your inside and the magnificence of your outside. I knew you would be significant in this world as you grew older. I knew you had so many gifts and talents that you alone could change so many lives for the better. It has recently come to my attention that you have not seen in you what I see. 

You have a kind heart that is sometimes afraid of being seen because you don’t want to seem weak. Know that the kindest hearts emulate the strongest spirits. You are intelligent beyond what you can comprehend. God planted in you exactly the mix of wisdom and knowledge you need to fulfill your purpose on this earth. Know that you truly are smart enough to live an amazing life.

I have seen you step in and help young kids and the elderly. I have seen you reach the toy that was out of grasp of the toddler and I have seen you hold a frightened pet so a child could pet it with ease. I have seen you play with the neighbor kids and their friends that made them feel so important and I have seen you roaring in laughter at the stories from those many generations older than you.

You have a gift of bringing joy. You have a compassionate heart that loves so much sometimes it hurts. You can be very hard on yourself trying to please everyone around you. I want you to know that no matter what you have done in life to this point and no matter what you will do in the future I see the good that is in you. You do not need to strive to please those around you. You simply bless those around you just by being you.

I have seen you when you have walked in dark places and felt you weren’t worth any good to any one…I saw you fight your way out of those places. Sometimes it went quickly and sometimes it took time. I have only heard the good about you from people that know you. They say you would give the shirt off your back to help a stranger and that you would bend over backwards to help those you care for most.

I want you to know that as you go through the rest of your life I know you are going to impact each person you come in contact with. You are going to do great things that will literally cause those around you to want to be the best versions of themselves.

I know that some days will be very challenging and some days you won’t want to get out of bed…and you know what?? That’s okay. Sometimes it’s okay not to be okay. Don’t beat yourself up about the shortcomings that life throws your way. It happens to everyone at different times and at different levels.

I want you to know that I am a silent cheerleader in your corner. You may not always see or hear me, but I am there. I am the one that saw you crying at the stop light and said a prayer for you. I’m the one that heard about situations you have faced and called out to God on your behalf. I’m the one that wants you to know you are so incredibly wonderful and I don’t ever want you to forget that. I want you to know I will never give up on you when you feel you have failed and I will love you no matter how unlovable you feel you are.

You are an important peace to many others miracles. You may not see it at this moment, but you are. My hopes are that this letter to you is a piece of your journey that you will always remember and that I get to be a piece of helping you know your value to keep pursuing and being the best version of you!

Sincerely,

Whoever You Need Me to Be

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (Isaiah 41:10)

Let's Get Real!

I haven’t written on here for quite some time. This is what was on my heart today. Enjoy:)

“Imperfect vessels putting up canvas over our lives to make the viewing audience think we live in an unending perfection of beauty” DMM…this is the way I think most of us live our lives.

Each person you pass has a story of victory and defeat. In most cases they are walking out one or both of those at that very moment. Each day brings with it varying degrees of the mountain top and the valley. You may be experiencing mountain top victories in your relationships, finances and health; however, be in the pit of the valley in your self-esteem. No person has victory in everything nor do they have defeat in everything at the same time.

I think in many cases we paint our victories on the canvas of our life and we proudly display those like a gallery of fine art. We are not so proud of our defeats…however, those are equally painted on canvases…most times those dark places try to be hidden or forgotten. We take those valleys and paint over them our mountain top victories. Know that there is no victory that can remove the pain of the defeat. Worse yet, when we try to mask our lows with our highs we cannot ever be truly whole.

With the age of social media we seem to canvas the airwaves with our victories, our good looking angled photos and our smiles….and when someone canvases the airwaves with their “agonies” we tend to judge them for putting negative things out there.

Let’s get real…we aren’t always happy and we aren’t always sad. We have ups and downs and many varying degrees of ‘in betweens’. I for one am overall positive and attempt to see the good in the bad, the silver lining in the storm and have the belief that no bad thing will remain and there is good coming. I truly am an optimist…however, even as an optimist I experience hurt, I experience disappointment, I experience defeat; just like every other person out there. The only difference is in how we face it.

The older I get the more I am done with the fake. Why do we do that?? I understand we don’t need to share everything with everyone, but why be fake with the people that care the most? Why put on an act?

It’s okay to be real, it’s okay to make changes, it’s okay to let go of old dreams and embrace new ones. Seasons come and seasons go…just like passions and dreams. It’s okay to let go of some old things to embrace some new things. Here’s a little example…I have been very active in my church for over 18 years. I have volunteered in MANY areas over that time, but only for seasons. Some of those seasons I chose to leave and some of those seasons God moved me. Sometimes he gave me grace to persist and sometimes He removed that grace. Sometimes I was filling a need and sometimes I was passionate about the ministry I was serving in. Filling a need is fine, but don’t let that take you away from fulfilling your passion…and be okay with your passions changing.

If you will, picture this…an old time chalkboard with a list of all the things you are involved in and all the things you need to do on a day by day basis. Do you see it? Okay, now erase the whole thing, that’s right…ERASE IT! Breath...now re-write. This time remove the clutter and filler things and only put down the things that matter, the important, the things that are necessary and the things you love. For me…I don’t love laundry, but it is necessary…you get the idea:)

I want people (myself included) to wake up tomorrow and be refreshed. Embrace those gifts and talents that energize you! Choose to walk away from the unnecessary and unimportant things. To change our thinking from…”How will I” to “How will God”…that alone should remove much unneeded burden.

What’s your destiny? What energizes you? What fills your heart to overflowing and what makes you smile? Fill your days with those things. We are all given gifts and talents and we all have a destiny to fulfill…let’s start focusing on that instead of spending our time being bombarded with the latest “awful” from Hollywood or the latest “gossip” from the neighborhood.

Let’s help each other be real and authentic. Let’s stop the fluff! Let’s stop painting pictures that aren’t real and start being authentic and true. The place to start? …with you! We first have to be real and authentic with ourselves before we can be real and authentic with others. In becoming real and authentic most of us will have to deal with things we have buried for a long time…that’s not fun, but once we face our defeats we can truly live a life of victory…even when we lose!

Let's GET REAL...LIVE LIFE...and make an IMPACT! We CAN DO THIS!!!