an accidental walk down memory lane...

i don't really think about high school that often.
i don't think about most of the people that i went to high school with much either
(well, i DO think about adam quite a bit)


but the other day, i was on wastebook...errr...facebook and i noticed a person that had left a comment on a mutual friends wall and i thought...oh. my. word! i forgot that person even existed. no offense :)


but what took place next was the problem. because i saw their name (and i will not even come close to mentioning anyone's names, because that is totally not my point) i then went to their profile, and lo and behold i saw a couple other people i had totally forgotten about! so i wanted to look at their pictures, and on and on this went. remembering person after person that i had gone to high school with.


this is one of the problems with facebook, in my humble-possibly-not-even-important-opinion.


discouragement.


do you remember the story of elijah in I Kings 18-19?
he had just had an amazing experience. He had literally called down the fire and power of God and proven to the people that God is God and Baal was an idol.
after that happened, he outran a chariot. 
after THAT happened, he got depressed and started looking around and thinking that no one else was doing anything for God.
he said:
"I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too."


here he is, saying I am working so hard to serve God. and there are NO other people in the whole entire world that care about living for God. 


i feel like i can be a whiny little cry-baby like that too, sometimes. 
first of all, (and be ready, because although i like to start sentences like that for effect, more often than not there is no second of all)
but first of all, i love the verse in Corinthians that says "But by the grace of God I am what I am"
you know why i like it? because when i am feeling like i'm doing such a great job for God, and just LOOK at how many ministries i am involved in, and just LOOK at all the people i am reaching. God says. um...excuse me? if it wasn't for my grace, you would be doing nothing!
then those days when i feel like, i am nothing. i am such a failure, i am a terrible mother, i am a horrible wife, and i am doing nothing right (yes, i have plenty of those days) God says. um...hello? you are MINE. you are chosen and because of my grace you are my girl.
so i need that verse for both of those kinds of days!!


anyways, back to my point. it is so easy to be discouraged! facebook was an accidental reminder to me. that a hugely high percentage of people that i went to my christian highschool with, are not even close to serving God! i mean, you would look at their profile and have no clue that they knew the first thing about God! everything is about partying, and living it up, and every other possible thing that the world is doing. 
but see, i started feeling that...am i the only one? 
am in the only person in the whole entire world that is trying to be intentional to raise godly children? 
am i the only one in the whole entire world that knows that you can have fun without getting wasted? 
am i the only one in the whole entire world that loves my Bible?


and on and on it started to go. 
until i was reminded that no. i am not the only one. 
i actually received an email just today from a girl i went to high school with that IS living for God!
i saw a sweet friend on saturday that is as crazy for Jesus as i am!
i know that there are people that are, but seeing so many people that just. don't. get. it...
is so frustrating! 
i did not accept Jesus as my Savior for fire-insurance.
i have a relationship with the God of this universe that is the most incredibly amazing thing i could ever even begin to imagine. 
just thinking about my inheritance, and my security and my merciful, loving, forgiving, faithful Father could get me going absolutely crazy. 
and if i wasn't laying in bed with a bad back i just might start jumping around like a crazy person. 
i heard a message yesterday about being happy...and the fact that if we stopped to realize what we had in Jesus, it would be impossible to NOT be happy!!


so by the grace of God, i am not discouraged tonight. 
i am grateful, because i am choosing to be. 
because i know that there are other people who are choosing to live their lives to please God.
and thank you to those of you who encourage me, and remind me that i am not alone!
i'm gonna go to YOUR profiles instead!


and if you're discouraged and feeling like you're the only one who is pleasing God...
stop whining, and thinking about yourself...haaa...didn't see that one coming, huh??
but for real. start serving. you tend to think a lot less about yourself and starting to feel self-righteous when you are in humility, thinking of others as better than yourselves.


see...i told you i wouldn't have a second point. 
i hate it when i do that!