The Encouragement of a Faraway Friend

Have you ever had a friend walk into your life and even though you only spend a few hours a day with them for a week, you are so encouraged that you keep in contact with them?  I am sharing my experience because she has been on my heart a lot lately with all the leaps of faith I am taking to create a life of more discipline so that God can use me more.  This past summer a couple ladies came from state of Maryland to help us with our church's VBS program.  This church has brought teams of teens in past years to help, but this past summer their mission's trip was abroad so they wouldn't be coming to help us.  Both of the ladies were such a blessing and encouragement, doing whatever we asked of them.  It wasn't until after they left that Doris reached out to me through Facebook, sharing how she had lost a lot weight and had kept it off for a very long time.  She shared a picture of before her weight loss and I saw myself in that picture.  She has given me a hope that I needed to keep on keeping on.  I began praying for the Lord to show me where I needed change so that I could have success.  One thing I noticed about Doris is that she is very disciplined in her exercise, going to the gym bright and early to get her workout before she heads to work where she teaches kindergarten. She has been such an inspiration to me to diligently get to that gym and not waste the membership my mom purchased for Maddie and myself.  As I was praying for God to show what I needed to change, the Lord laid on my heart a real hunger for His Word.  When my Fitbit silent alarm goes off (it vibrates fast and furious) at 5:25 every morning (I give myself 5 minutes to wake up before getting up at 5:30) I smile and say to myself "thank you for this desire to spend time with you and experience the pleasures of discipline."  Yeah...you probably think I am nuts, but that is just how I roll.  I have always found myself basically conversing with God all day long for years so this way of praying is just normal for me.  Anyways, I just want to thank Doris for her encouragement by writing about her today.  Thank you, Doris!