Talking to Myself

I’ve been doing this blog for some time now, and there are weeks where the Holy Spirit will lead me to write something that I really don’t want to write! The truth is, I’ve had to write through pain, through disappointment, and through some pretty tough trials in my life. But you know what? I know that you have been reading through the difficult times in your own life, too. And I thank God that there have been weeks that the blog as been as encouraging to you has it has been to me!

Sometimes, there will be a topic that God gives me to write about and it doesn’t appear in the blog for weeks. That’s because God has to deal with me about some things first. Before I can write about loving your enemies, for example, God throws a couple my way, so I can experience it firsthand.

Then there are the weeks when I will have heard the topic loud and clear and jumped on it right away. But when I sit down to actually write about it, it’s not what I want to say at all. In fact, my very well organized and well-crafted sentences get obliterated by the delete key. And what’s left is not what I sat down and intended to write. But each time, whenever I publish the blog and say, “That’s not what I wanted to say,” that someone leaves a comment of “Amen!” Or just when I feel like that day’s blog entry was out of whack, I’ll run into someone who says, “Wow, the blog today really touched me.” And my reply is always, “To God be the glory!” Because truthfully, it is not about me, it is the working of the Holy Spirit.

Personally, I have grown spiritually through working on this blog and I hope you have too! My prayer is that God will continue to use me, even in this very small way, to encourage the people of God. Each week, I call those who read this blog “Valued Readers,” in honor of those who take the time out of their busy schedules to read and reflect on the topics covered. It’s like when Paul said to the members of the church of Corinth, “Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.” (2 Corinthians 3:1-3)

I thank God for the opportunity to talk to myself—and I pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to minister to others through these words as well!