Encouragement From Unlikely Sources...

What's good, so these past few weeks have just been really hard for me, going through a lot...but as of late, it's been getting better...by the grace of God, giving me the strength and encouragement via my surroundings. Obviously, I've been talking to a lot of people as of late, my close friends and the usual suspects, but recently, like this past week...I've received encouragement from very unlikely sources. First would be my ex, we were chilling the other day just catching up and stuff and I decided to just share with her what I've been going through...and we've been talking a lot as of late and she's really been lifting my spirits, making me happy and giving me encouragement physically, mentally and most important spiritually. 2nd would be this girl who I haven't talked to or seen with in a while, we went on the missions trip to Cleveland together and she messaged me one day saying how she went through my blog and she likes how it's going, she's always been a firm supporter. She told me she's been reading my posts and she's been praying for me...which really hit me hard and we just kept talking back and forth, catching up and sharing with each other what we've been learning so far. She shared with me this verse from Romans 5:3-5 that says "Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us." It was just really encouraging talking to her, this year is her first year of university, so we were just trading stories and such. 3rd would be my pastor, who messaged me recently to check up on me and see how I'm doing and to ask if there was anything she could pray for. It was kinda random, but I have a hunch she may have read my blog as well. But regardless, I'm very thankful and appreciative for her encouraging words as well, it meant a lot to me cuz I didn't expect it from any of these people. Which brings me to my next point...about God answering our prayers. Sometimes, He does so without us even knowing it...because sometimes we expect so much or we expect a certain answer or resolution in our head, but when we step back, we realized God has answered it, in His own way, not our way. Like in my situation for example, He gave me encouragement and strength, through the most unlikely of people...but yeah, it's crazy how God works I guess.