What do you believe about yourself?

I once enrolled in a prayer counseling course called Elijah House which was held at the home of my great friend Josh Weaver.  Overall I found the course to be an amazing experience and I grew as a person tremendously.  On the first night of the course a woman came with a large bag of gifts that each had a letter attached.  She said that she'd been praying for each of us and that she believed that God laid a message on her heart for each person enrolled in the class (she didn't know any of us).  She opened the bag and let us each come up, one by one, and pull out our present.  As we all read our letters, I heard sobbing around the room and whispers of "oh my God".  I was shocked at how well I felt like the letter pertained to me personally.  Many others in the room felt the same way.  The following is a transcription of my letter:


"Have you ever been in snow country?  Snow falling gently to the ground in amazing softness.  It brings a quiet and stillness to the soul.  You can find a peace that stills things all around you.  Nothing is hurrying and all the animals are stepping softly and slowly.


But then in the midst of your stillness you hear a sound, it is not still and it is not quiet.  It is a trailblazer.  Someone coming along where no path is and making the way known that someone is there.  This is you; you are one to make your own tracks.  Going where others have not yet stepped and showing others can come too.  This trailblazer can be a skier, a snowmobile, or a truck in 4 wheel drive.


Four wheel drive that is you.  All the wheels turning to get where you want to go.  It does not matter if others have done it but somehow there is a way to get there.  You know where you are going and it is with fun.  Sometimes we have to figure out the way to get there because surely there is a path somewhere.


Only sometimes the snowmobiles hit a barbed wire fence hidden in the snow.  Snow that is soft and flying suddenly becomes a bed for you to land in.  There will be traps, and hidden snares along your journey of life. Things that will trip you up or throw you.  But there is still a path to go on.  There is still a trail to go on.  Someone must make a new path in the wilderness that is the leader in you.  We need that someone who will make things happen especially for others.  They used to say pioneer, now it is called progress.


There is a process of being made or developed that intrigues you.  You want to know the in's and out's of things.  What makes things tick, so to say.  It is like the 4 wheel drive giving power from the drive shaft.  If I use all 4 wheels then i can get better traction under difficult conditions.  You make the best of things; you try to find the good in hard times.  The power to go on in you encourages others.  You see no obstacles; you just see a way that has not been before.  You know how to ease the friction.  Friction is needed to keep going forward or to make progress.  You can take the friction and use it to propel you into a better place or person.  using all the means possible to get where you are going.  That is why you love a challenge, it keeps you going.


You are going somewhere and you know how to use the friction in your life to get there.  Today it is described as character building or integrity.  So as you journey through this class and through the obstacles you will face, know that it is good that all 4 wheels are turning.


You are blazing that trail so others can follow in your tracks.  Be the leader you were meant to be and as you go along to figure the way, know may others will see your trail and follow.  Happy 4 wheeling!"


I believe that the stranger was right, this was a message for me, inspired by God.  What do you believe about yourself?