I am in complete denial that it is already the middle of December. Time had been flying by, but thankfully it has been full of blessings! First off fundraising letters have started to go out, but I’m a little behind on sending them out as a whole! (sorry family, you will be getting them!) :). The second huge blessing that God has made apparent is encouragement. I Thessalonians 5:11 tells us to encourage and build each other up.
“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.”
Sometimes I am not good at seeing ways to encourage, so while I work on it, I am so thankful that God has given others the gift of encouragement! Encouragement comes in many ways, whether it’s the associate at Scheels, friends of friends and strangers that have reached out to show support or encouragement, or all of my friends that have shared in the excitement for God’s next adventure in my life! Many blessings are more apparent, perhaps because of the time of year, even though they are there all year around! Francesca Batistelli’s song, “Heaven Everywhere” has some pretty accurate lyrics that apply to Thanksgiving and Christmastime especially.
It’s funny how it takes a holiday
To show us how the world could truly change
If we all took the time to really care
There’d be a little more of heaven everywhere.
Those are just some of the lyrics, so you should probably go listen to the entire song! I have often been guilty of using music as my only form of worship and not focusing on Scripture. Matthew 2:10 could be a portion of scripture that Francesca studied during brainstorming on the lyrics. “When they saw the star they rejoiced with exceeding great joy!”. This passage is talking about the super awesome and exciting event of our Savior’s birth!
So lastly, I wanted to hit on this whole eloquence thing… Of course I have some song lyrics, but first the definition is to clearly, fluently, or persuasively express or indicate something. Sometimes I feel like Moses, God wants me to serve Him, but I think He hasn’t seen me try to talk to a group of people! “Then Moses said to the Lord, “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant, for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue” Exodus 4:10. Moses and I are kind of similar, maybe I’ll get a rod in the mail! Probably not… But God does provide some encouragement in 1 Corinthians 1:17, “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.” So even though I feel like the song lyrics below, God must be saying something similar to “Do it anyways!” I’m pretty sure I’m over the suggested word limit, but I want to share these lyrics that I sometimes feel like I could’ve written!
I’m as eloquent as an elephant,
I’m as headstrong as the mighty King Kong on a rampage,
Throwing airplanes, I can’t believe You haven’t gone away…
(Eloquent by Sanctus Real, you should probably listen to the whole song and read the lyrics after you finish up, “Heaven Everywhere.”)
