Messages of Encouragement

I am grateful for the messages of encouragement either by snail mail or email that always seem to come at the times when I need them the most.  I am amazed sometimes where those words of encouragement come from – some from people I have never met or only met once or twice, from extended family, friends of friends, and friends of either the Bradley/Nottingham family or the Herr/Allison family.  I cannot begin to express how much these words mean to me.  Jaelyn has enjoyed receiving encouraging mail from our funeral director, Donna Buse, as well as special adults in her life.

I have saved every card that I have received since Scott’s death, and printed many of the messages received on email or Facebook.  These messages are so precious to me and I do go back and re-read them from time to time.  I find that often I find words that speak to where I am emotionally at that particular moment, even though I may have received them a few months ago.  Words of encouragement are vitally important when going through anything of any emotional magnitude.  I cannot begin to express how often these words have kept me going.  Just looking at the large basket of cards on the table bring such a sense of being loved and cared for. 

Today I received a card in the mail from Melody, a cousin on my mom’s side of the family.  Melody has been very faithful in sending cards of encouragement, often with a special song enclosed, every couple of days.  In the card today Melody shared something from her Women of Faith Study Bible that really hit home with where I have been emotionally lately.  I feel like I am a boiling pot of emotions that are boiling over.  So, although I used a different analogy, this particularly hit home to me and I thought that it might be meaningful to others who are experiencing tough times right now also.

“Sometimes life becomes so complicated we feel as if we’ve gone as far as we can down this stressful highway.  We imagine ourselves smashed up against a brick wall, unable to answer one more call, hear one more complaint, and take one more breath.  When that’s the image that fills your mind, change the brick wall to God.  Imagine yourself pressed tightly against his heart, wrapped in his everlasting arms, soothed by his life-giving breath.  Picture yourself encircled in God’s love, soaked in his strength.  Then step out onto the highway once more.”  -- Barbara Johnson

There isn’t much to add to that.  The imagery that this brings to mind brings with it such a loved, warm, and comforted feeling.