heart encouragement

last night in the dorm, after a semi-frustrating day of work, one of my younger teen girls came up to me to ask boy advice. you have no idea how delighted i was to not only hear that question, but share with her a few slivers of experience. we wound up speaking for an hour or so until it was nearly bedtime, with her doing the majority of sharing what was on her heart, it being a perfect reminder of what i'm here for and the value in day-to-day details.

"i've been feeling so much more freedom; i used to worry about what people think when i would raise my hands in worship, so i never did; but now i'm doing it to show God how worthy He is of all I am, not to impress others."

"the other day someone told me that God gives us problems so that we draw closer to Him. that really made me think, and it's true! now whenever problems come, i turn to God and say thank you. not like 'wonderful! i failed my test! thank you, God! just what i wanted!' but i know that He is using all of it to bring me closer to Him."

"everytime i want to get better in something, i feel like there's something holding me back and trying to stop me, but there's always something behind me pushing me to go on. i now know that what's trying to hold me back is Satan, but what's behind me encouraging me to keep fighting is God. i don't want Satan to be able to hold me back anymore."

God surprises, and best of all, uses us when we're least expecting it.