speak up

Lovely Readers! Today I am thankful for how abundantly enriched I am by the amount of quality relationships I have in my life. I am constantly overwhelmed by God's grace in giving me things that I so completely don't deserve.

Through my family, my wonderful friends, boyfriend, coworkers, mentors, babysitting kids and church family, etc., God has revealed His love to me time and time again - His perfect love through imperfect people. How cool is that?  I can't remember a single instance when God didn't provide a mentor or a friend to help me sort out problems, make a decision, point me to Jesus or care for me when I needed it. This is above and beyond God's own promise to never leave me or forsake me Himself. Because of this, I truly have never been alone.

Anyways, the point of this post is that a lot of the time I don't vocalize enough to people how much they mean to me. Things that I think and appreciate often go unspoken, and I let opportunities for encouragement and affirmation pass me by. I don't even do it intentionally. 

Because this has been on my mind so much, my challenge for this next month is to speak up and tell people in your life how much they mean to you. Write a letter, an e-mail, schedule a hangout, make a phone call and just take care of business. Let them know the influence they have had on you, the challenge they have been to you, how fabulous they are or the ways that their presence has made your life better. 

Love initiates.

"Therefore, encourage one another and build each other up, just as you are doing." - 1 Thes. 5:11