The Blessings of Facebook

You know, I never thought I would say that something as frivolous as a site like Facebook would be a blessing... but God has been showing me otherwise. At first it seemed like a place to waste time... and it is (or can be). There are so many things to distract one from using their time wisely, like all the games it offers... or pointless exercises in "farming" (WHY??) and all those silly quizzes that have no idea what they're talking about.

The thing that is beginning to change my mind about Facebook is the fact that I have found so many people who were lost to me. I'm not talking about my first friend from grade school (though, yes, I did find her as well)... but family. I found my biological sister (a full-blood sister), and a half-sister that I didn't know I had. I also, through my half-sister, found my biological dad. These have been excellent uses of my time. I am forming relationships and finding out about my past as well as, hopefully, building a rapport that may bring these relations to Christ.

However, the more meaningful aspect of finding people came recently when I started reconnecting with people from my adopted family. My parents (yes, the story will be coming eventually) effectively cut out everyone from their families and we were raised without aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents because they were all "sinful", "unsaved", "didn't go to church"... blah blah blah. To me (at least now), that is no longer a valid reason to cut someone off from your life.

Today, the most encouraging one of all, I had a phone call from a cousin that I met when I was a child. He had a very rough childhood and yet God saved him through it all and he is a very gentle man and so kind and such a witness for Christ. He is passionate about serving the Lord in whatever he does and has always wanted to be part of a family. Since he was abandoned when he was a child, he has made do with creating his own family with his wife; but now that we found each other, we are forming a relationship that I am praying will be mutually encouraging and uplifting spiritually. We, through our talk this afternoon, found that we are kindred spirits in that our situations and experiences have been similar and God has protected us both through them. We can relate to one another and it is so relieving to knowthat at least one person in your family actually cares about you.

Well... that is my praise for today. Thank God for Sevrin (my cousin) and may he continue to be greatly blessed.