Overwhelmed & humbled

I recently sent out an e-mail to some of my dearest friends asking for prayer about something, and the response, quite frankly, has me completely overwhelmed and humbled. Between the love I'm being shown by friends and the realization yet again of how much God has actually blessed me with the people surrounding me... Yikes. I almost cried the other day just thinking about it.

A few things my dear friends have said to me:

- I will pray that God opens your heart and draws you closer to Him so He can reveal this wonderful treasure to you.

- You’re so amazing for sending this email!

- You are so special to Him!

- Be encouraged bc just as God said he starts us out on milk and slowly brings in solid foods as we mature in age...He's bringing in the meat and potatoes to ya babe.

- so I just wish you were right here so I could give you a giant hug

- For one, you are in Christ Jesus!! You are His, and He is in you through the Spirit! He has taken care of your sin, and there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus!!

- Yup. Praying. LOVE you.

I am surrounded by people who love me and care about. Genuinely care. I sent out the e-mail asking for prayer in a season of change I see approaching, and above is a fraction of the responses I got back. A few e-mails almost brought me to tears because I don't tend to feel that I deserve that kind of admiration.

Beyond that, I know such caring people. I really do. The above responses were from friends I've known for anywhere between ~8 months to ~7 years. I was praying on my way to work the other day and I thought about when I was moving back to Virginia from Pennsylvania... When I made my big move my biggest fear was that I would have no friends here. Almost every one of those responses are from "newer" friends- as in people I've met in the ~2 years that I've been home. How crazy is my God that He would know who to bring into my life and when?

Another friend told me to read Romans 8 and I read it at work... The below verse struck me hard... "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express." Since I've felt the oncoming of this Spirit, I've felt increasingly weak spiritually. But not weak in a way that I'm about to collapse; weak in a way that I'm malleable. I was praying for someone a few weeks ago on my way to work, and out of prayer for this friend came prayer in tongues and tears that I didn't even know existed. It wasn't even a pained cry, it was a joyful cry. And on my way to work. Thankfully it wasn't a bunch of sobbing, just a few random tears....

Romans 8:26 has absolutely wrecked me.

"Father I don't know what this season holds for me. I know what I want out of it, but that is irrelevant. Help me to seek Your face and read Your word more."

"In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express."