A Moment for Thankfulness - a 5:11 Note

One of many blessings of attending a Christian high school was going on retreat Soon after the start of school year.  It was four days in the Prescott hills to completely focus our minds and hearts on God with in depth Biblical teaching and worship, form deeper bonds with our classmates through fun activities and get to know our teachers on a more personal level. As much as I loved everything about retreat, especially since everyone went out of their way to insure I was included (a stark contrast to my horrid two years in public jr. high), my favorite retreat traditon was giving and receiving "5:11 notes," inspired by 2 Thessalonians 5:11, which reads: "Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing."  We were given a paper lunch sack to decorate with our names before leaving for retreat. Upon arrival at camp, the teachers would stick our bags up on the back wall in the mess hall and over the course of the four days, the students would fill each other's sacks with encouragement.  It may sound like a cliché form of "prescribed kindness" to some people, but I'll be the first say that couldn't be further from the truth.  It was an incredible blessing.  I would keep the most poignant and uplifting notes close at hand all year long, to reread during my most difficult struggles.  I cherished each one.  There have been countless times since high school (especially in the last couple years of feeling miserably discouraged about my lack of career and uncertainty about my life's purpose) when I've wished I had another 5:11 bag to open and overpower the darkness.  This feeling was once most accute when I couldn't muster the stamina to write. Many said, "writing is a lonely craft; you just gotta keep at it. "  That was true for a very long time. But, over the last couple weeks something BIG has started to change.  Light is now breaking through the trees and I can see my path.  And not just my path, but also the people who will travel it with me!  Never in my life have I received such overwhelming affirmation for one idea (which I will disclose very soon) and while sleep remains scarce amid the outpouring of my mind, my stamina endures to the Glory of God. He is here. He is working in and around me.  HE IS GOOD. Thank you to my one precious friend who has stayed awake with me 'til 3am, letting her own ideas add fuel to the creative fires... there are no sufficient words for the depth of my gratitude, Dear! Thank you to the others who've seen the first puzzle pieces fit together and lovingly demand more everyday.  I'd get nothing done without you.  And lastly, thank you to the beauty with one seemingly simple, but powerful suggestion.  Meeting you was the clearest answer to prayer I've had in the last four years.
May God bless you all even more abundantly than you have blessed me.