My dear and beloved Friend,

I love you.  I cherish you.  I treasure you.

I am writing to you today to encourage you to keep pressing on.  You can persevere.  You can get through this.  You can overcome this giant obstacle that lies before you.

I, too, have experienced those moments where fear seems so great, the future is hazy with uncertainty and the exhaustion feels as if it will break you.  Although my journey is different, the strain and forces of the stress pressing down upon your shoulders, upon your heart, the pain hurts the same.

I know what it is to like to walk the road of doubt.  I have heard the questions within my own mind.  Did I make the right choice?  What if I should have taken a different path?  How am I ever going to make it?  Why am I not where I thought I would be today?  Why did  I think I could do this, that I could handle this?

I know what it is like to have insecurity cloud the light and rain upon me.  I am disgusting.  I am horrible.  I am so worthless.  I can not do it.  Why is it so easy for everyone else?  Why can’t I be more like someone else?  My talents amount to so very little.  I should step back, step out, step down.  I wish I would have done it differently.  Maybe I am realizing those negative expectations people labeled me with.

My dear, you see, I have been there.  I have been in that pit dark, wet, cold and seemingly alone.  I am familiar with it all.

Even though you may feel as though you are in the pit right now.  You are not alone.

God is with you.  God is for you.  God loves you.  God cherishes you.  God delights in you.

God has not left you alone, not in this moment of darkness, not in this moment of struggle or any of the other moments that have already passed in your life.

Take comfort my dear, God is also your forerunner.  In Psalm 139 it says, “You hem me in – behind and before; You have laid Your hand upon me.”  All that to soothe your heart and soul.  Allow it to assure you that while you have never been where God is leading, while you are uncertain, God is certain because He has gone ahead through every step that you are yet to take.  

Life may be changing drastically for you and at moments it will overwhelm you.  Those are the moments that God wants you to take refuge in Him.  God does not want you to sit out in the cold and the rain of the pit.  He wants to welcome you into the comfort of His arms.  God is never failing.  He is always available to be the restorer of your soul.

My friend, I know that emptiness that comes from being drained by the voices of the world; the ones that tell you that you are not giving them what they want, when they want it and the way they want it.  I understand that mechanical feeling of going through the motions.  I have wept with sadness as I look upon my cup and see how little is left.  I have cried out asking someone to tell me if I was doing anything right at all.

Let me tell you about God.  He is the searcher of hearts and of minds.  With that knowledge, God pours His love upon us exactly as we need it.  We can ask Him to draw us near to Him, God responds with beautiful messages of reassurance and creative gifts of encouragement.

My dearest, do you know what one of the most amazing things about God is?  God loves us, not for what we do, but for who we are!

God loves you for who you are.  God’s love is not based upon what you have done, what you do now or what you will do in the future.  God made you by His own hand.  My dear you are one of His greatest creations.  God is particularly fond of you.  You are His.  He does not expect or ask you to be perfect by the world’s standards.

God just wants you to be who He created you to be.  God wants to know you.  God wants to be the one you always turn to when you need to laugh, when you need to cry, when you feel lost, when you are skipping with joy and when you feel like all hope is gone.  God fills what which is empty and He fills it using His generous measure.

As your friend, I have to tell you.  “I thank my God every time I remember you.  In all my prayers for you, I always pray with joy” (Philippians 1:3-4).  Do you know why I can pray for you with such joy?

When I was sad, you made me laugh through the tears.  When I could not come up with a word to say, you sat with me in silence.  When I was having a rough day, your card arrived in my mailbox.  When I was overwhelmed with responsibilities, you took me out to lunch where we talked about anything but work.  When I was exhausted, you wrapped that blanket around me and just gave me permission to take time out for myself.  When I needed time with my spouse, you took our kids on an adventure that they will never forget.  When I needed to cry, you did try to stop it and just took me in your arms allow me the freedom to weep.

My dear, you have loved me in so many ways big and small.  You have cherished me.  You have treasured me.  You have given me so much that I will never be able to repay you for.  So I praise God for you, for all those ways that you have been the hands and feet of Jesus in my life.

So now my dear, now is the time to allow me to pour back upon you just a little bit of that same kind of love.  Open up your arms, my precious friend, and just receive.  Take it in.  Allow it to soak into your life, into your heart and deep within your soul.

You are a radiantly beautiful, priceless masterpiece made by the hands of a perfect creator.  You are so unique, so beloved that never before or never again will there ever be anyone like you.  You are here in this time and this place.  I have the utter blessing to know you.  I just do not have words to express how grateful I am to God for allowing me that opportunity.

Please know that whether or not you are in a pit, whether you make your goals or see your expectations achieved, whether you fail or succeed, I am here for you.  I love you all the same.  I see you through the eyes of love and you are precious to me.

Even more so God, who has eyes of only love, calls you His own.  You are such a treasure to Him that He delights in you, for who you are, for being you.

Dearest and Beloved Lord, 

Thank You so much God for this day.  Thank You for the opportunity to experience another day, for the time to draw near to You and to live out the purpose that You have called each of us to.  

Lord, I lift up to You my dear and beloved friend.  Please give them hope.  Please give them courage.  Please give them the strength needed just to take that next step.  Help them to develop that perseverance that Your Bible so often speaks of.  Lord, help them to have faith like that of a mustard seed.  Honor them, bless them, find Your favor upon them, and most importantly send them an overwhelming mass of messages of Your love for them.  

May my meager prayer fall so sweetly upon Your ears like a petal falling upon the stream, with beauty and with purpose to be carried along where it needs to go.  God, You know all things.  Please tend ever so gently to my friend in this day.  If I can be a part of assisting You, please help me to be obedient to all that You ask of me.  May I continue to praise You for all You give, especially for this beautiful friend of mine.

In Jesus’ name, amen.