People come into our lives in many different ways. I met Mary at her friend’s yard sale. In only a few minutes we connected with a common threat – growing up with no self-value. I have no idea how we got to the subject but I told her about the memoir I am writing titled I’m Nobody. She said she wanted to title her book Erased. She told me something she had learned and I marveled that it was also one of mine. I told a story from my journey and she understood the pain. We took the next step in our new-found friendship – we became Facebook friends!
Each day I look forward to seeing what nuggets she has posted. She writes what is on her heart: “There’s a special place in my heart for the ones who were with me at my lowest and still loved me when I wasn’t very loveable.” I can relate and think of those friends I have like that.
She posts sayings from other posts: “Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for kindness.” Oh, if we could all live by that.
Mary posts hughesairco.com/ spiritual thoughts: ”at my lowest, God is my HOPE. At my darkest, God is my LIGHT. At my weakest, God is my STRENGTH. At my saddest, God is my COMFORTER.” This is so true. I hold it dear.
She makes me laugh, “I am on the 12-step chocolate program: to NEVER be more than 12 steps away from chocolate!”
Some of her posts may have a moral statement: “Smoking is not a sign of maturity…it is, however, a sign of rebellion and self-destruction.”
Once she posted the old saying “people come into your life for different reasons…” I think we bumped into one another to become light and encouragement to each other. Only I am sure that she provides much more encouragement to me than I do to her. I may not even recognize her on the street, but often I see a post and say, “that sounds like Mary!”
You don’t have to be best friends and share your deepest secrets to be encouraged or comforted by someone’s words. You can bring joy to strangers as move central when you share positive words, just as I Thessalonians 5:11 says, “Encourage one another and build each other up.”
And be grateful for those who bring you encouragement. Like Mary.