Thursday of Thanksgiving

God has let the encouragement from the body of Christ roll this week.

I have received a couple of thank you cards in the mail in the past couple of days. Snail Mail! Gotta love it. They have been really encouraging. And both were about the woman's conference. Diane sent me one and she didn't even go to the conference. I had shared at our Faith Family about how I was just feeling under attack since sharing my testimony. Satan has really just been hitting me saying that I shared too much and that people are going to look at me differently. I received a card saying that she was sure that I had been used at the conference and just very kindly reminding me it wasn't about what others thought but what God thought of what I had shared.

Later this week I got a message from Facebook from Deb. She thanked me for being honest in my testimony and told me it was funny because she already saw me as a "beautiful woman of God even before the conference" Her message came to my inbox at work in two messages. The second part that started with funny came first before the previous letter. Here I am sitting at my desk at work reading my email with tears streaming down my face! Goodness!

The last thing was a letter I received today from Amy and her mom Laura. I have a lot of respect for this family. They are an amazing family of God and that is very evident in the family dynamics and just their interactions with everyone. Both Amy and Laura had portions of the card they wrote. Again I was thanked for being vulnerable and honest. It must really be counter-cultural to be transparent with people, because that seems to be the thing I am thanked for the most. Why are we so afraid to let people see the real us? It was hard to share my testimony but at the same time freeing! This who I am. A sinner saved by grace and very messed up in a lot of ways, but a work in progress with Jesus as my author. Maybe I will post my testimony... The only thing then is that it will be out there for the whole world to see... I guess I am not as transparent as I try to make out I am.

Thank you Jesus that my identity is in You and You alone. Thank you that there is nothing good in me apart from You. That takes a lot if the pressure off of me. I need to live according to you and you will do mighty works in and through me. Make me willing to be used by you.