Not just a Cheerleader

Sharing this entry from my journal in 2009 after a frightening, life changing, heart wrenching season of panic and anxiety attacks. It's tough to go back and remember the depths of some pits we have found ourselves in, but the take away is HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD!!! He redeems us from the pit! I pray you will read this, not seeing my pit, but seeing the Faithful, Amazing God who rescued me!! He can rescue you too!! I am so thankful for this blog community and the freedom we have in Christ, and in America to share our testimonies of faith!!! In God I trust!!!! Blessings in Freedom, Michele

"It was in these past 12 months that I realized the importance of the gift of encouragement. I never really thought it was important, in comparison to the gift of teaching, prophesy, evangelism, etc. What does "being positive" do for the Kingdom of God? It's something every person should be by nature. We should all have hope, look for the best in other people and circumstances and always look up...so, how is that a gift when everyone has it? At least a person with the gift of evangelism saves people, forever changing their eternal soul. A person who has the gift of teaching, disciples and grows the heart, soul and mind of another, teaching the very Words of God. Soooo, I am supposed to feel important saying, "Wooohoo!!! You got this! Keep going! God loves you! He is with you! Don't give up! Seek Him and find Him!!" ??? Well, yes! It's so much more than "cheering" someone on.

        When you are in the depths of hell on earth, when you feel like giving up and quitting on this thing called life…you cannot image one more hour and sometimes...one more breath. These words of Job were mine,"Job continued his discourse: "How I long for the months gone by, for the days when God watched over me, when His lamp shone upon my head and by His light I walked through darkness! Oh, for the days when I was in my prime, when God's intimate friendship blessed my house." Job 29:1-4 NIV. " "At this my heart pounds and leaps from its place." Job 37:1 NIV.  (I can't help but wonder if both Job and Paul knew exactly what a heart palpitation was!!)
        Then refreshment comes. That one hug…that one message from a friend, (prompted by the Holy Spirit no doubt,) saying “Hello, I am here, just thinking of you,” or the reminder "Jesus loves you, He sees you, He is with you even when you aren't feeling Him, trust Him," "this too shall pass," the timely message on the radio or specific Word to you in a sermon translated in Spirit, cutting straight to your marrow...it is Light in your darkness. It is the breath of Life. It's the next breath you breath. It's the energy to take on one more hour, and then a day, and then a week. Immeasurable is the blessing of the encouragement of God gifted to a broken heart, mind and soul. It was refreshment to my dry and weary bones. 

"O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for You, my body longs for You, in a dry and weary land where there is no water." Psalm 63:1 NIV

Knowing how much even the tiniest kind gesture meant to me, I will never minimize again the power of an encouraging word or scripture to another. We all have our bad days and seasons. Only God knows the depths of our thoughts, so it is crucial we pay close attention to the leading and directing of the Holy Spirit to speak life into another’s soul, for you may be the rescue God is sending in their moment of great need. I thank God daily, even now, for those lifesavers God sent me. They are part of God’s fingerprints impressed upon my heart and spirit. Oh God, bless them tenfold!"

Never minimize the gift's of God. They are Kingdom enhancers, life changers, they are the instruments of power from God here on this side of Heaven. In my healing process, it took the gifting of many to bring me out of the pit, to teach me who I was and where my strength would come from, to teach me who God was and is Eternally, Here, Now and in Every Tomorrow. They taught me how to seek first the Kingdom of God, trust His ways, and how to rest and be still my soul. It took encouragers to walk alongside me to not give up and keep me looking forward and up when my eyes were downcast or so full of tears and fears that I couldn't see the next step in front of me. 

They were more than cheerleaders (as I had always seen myself). It's soooo much more. With the leading and enabling of the power of the Holy Spirit, they were the bumper guards of my life. They were the bungie that brought me back to solid ground when I fell. They were the truth speakers reminding me who I said my trust was in, that tomorrow had new mercies, and that God had already conquered this current darkness and I was more than a conquerer in Him! (Romans 8). How precious and important The Body of Christ!!! Never, ever hesitate to be used by Him. You may save someone's life and the domino affect of saving just one is huge! Restoring one can restore generations to come. Besides, it's one of the most amazing experiences to be an instrument of grace for another. You don't have to be a super-saint or trained seminary student to be used by God. He has given every one of us a gift. So everyone is an instrument! And to a watching world, what a beautiful reflection of the Glory of God! To be examples of God's heart here on earth! His hands and feet! A display of the Redemption, Rescue and Power of the Cross...a Gift of Ultimate Love!! God, please give me the opportunity to be a grace gift encourager to someone else!! Let me always feel Your gentle power to move any mountain in Your Name!! Forgive my laziness and unbelief! I trust You. I need You. I Love You! Bless Your Holy Name, amen."

What is your gifting? Won't you dare to ask God to be used by Him today!? You never know what the power of God can do through you! You never know who's life you will save!

"Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no one can fathom.

 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." Isaiah 40:28-31 NIV

"Hear, O LORD, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me! You have said, "Seek my face." My heart says to you, "Your face, LORD, do I seek." Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!" Psalm 27:7-8, 14 ESV

Yes Lord, Your face, and Your heart, Lord, do I seek!!!