Leland and I have been keeping a “blessings book” from the time we started this journey to prepare and become missionaries. We had never imagined being missionaries, so we knew on tough days, we would need to be reminded who’s got our back.  And wow, we have been humbled by the amount of love we continue to receive from our friends and family. Sometimes out of sight, out of mind is common, and we expected that. So it’s been a blessing to still receive kind notes, encouraging words and goodies that remind us of our loved ones.

While looking through our blessing book and adding some new notes, I am reminded of two things…

1. God uses us to encourage one another. We hear it in scripture but I think sometimes we forget (1 Thes 5:11, Heb 10:24). So I want to encourage you to write a note to someone you care about, maybe someone you haven’t reached out to in a while. God is really good about putting people on our hearts to reach out to, but we need to be willing to listen and act upon those prompts. I know that sometimes life gets busy or we get distracted, but as someone who keeps a book of notes, I want to encourage you that your notes really do mean something to someone.
2. Satan is really good at using negative emotions (isolation, fear, pride, judgement, anxiety) to separate God’s people. But we are called to LOVE. How can you love those around you well? How can you love your family well? How can you love your coworkers well? How can you love your neighbors well? It’s not about what you get in return or how they’ll respond – it’s about YOUR response to God’s love.

So with those two things in mind, I hope you have a blessed day and you choose to be a blessing to someone else.