You Matter to Someone

I haven’t written in awhile. I haven’t felt like sitting down to write. I didn’t feel like what I wrote really mattered. It didn’t seem like anyone was actually reading a full post anyway. Basically, my feelings made my brain believe that writing on my blog wasn’t worth it.

So there’s that.

But . . .

Someone needed me today. She needed my story. She needed my journey in order to begin her own. She needed direction, encouragement, and proof that this fight against the lies of an eating disorder is worth it. My story allowed me to help someone else because I could understand hers.

And here I’ve been selfishly keeping my words to myself the past weeks because I didn’t think it mattered whether I shared or not. I didn’t think anyone needed my words.

But I realized something . . .

Who am I to decide that what I do has no impact on another?

Who are any of us to assume that our lives don’t matter for a specific and valuable reason?

My feelings try to tell me a lot of stuff. When will I learn that my feelings and emotions don’t often speak truth?

I can sit at my kitchen counter writing words, and maybe I’ll never know the impact those words that I write have on another. But I realized today that even if just one person finds hope in what I have to say, then that should be enough.

Even if we never know if our words are actually helping anyone, the possibility should be enough.

Even if it’s just one other person we impact. Then God planned for that. He connected the dots to bring us to that person, and that matters.

You matter to someone.

I look back on my own life and I know each “someone” who mattered me. I remember what I learned because of each “someone”. I remember how my direction changed because of how each “someone” touched my life.

We have power in sharing our stories.

We can change a life by sharing our stories.

We can be hope, joy, determination, motivation, encouragement, and direction for a “someone”. But the moment we decide to keep our mouths shut, that is the moment where connection dies. That is the moment where we allow our feelings and emotions to drive our negative thoughts to tell us that we don’t matter. That is the moment where we become isolated and selfish. That is the moment “someone” loses their chance to find hope in their journey.

What gives us the right to take away hope? Even when we don’t know that it’s hope we hold?

You matter to someone.

Your story could help someone find the courage to go back to school, or make a new recipe, or walk the road of infertility, or take a new job, or sew a dress for their daughter, or deal with divorce, or read a good book, or join a new church, or head up a new committee, or suffer a miscarriage, or join a gym, or overcome trauma, or find better health, or try a new restaurant, or go to the doctor, or decide to fight his eating disorder.

Our experiences matter to another. Our experiences may seem minor in our own minds, but to another, they can be the catalyst for change.

You matter to someone.

My love for writing came from a teacher in grade school who encouraged me to write. My decision to become a teacher came from a teacher who impacted my life. My choice to run my first mile came from a friend who ran alongside me the whole way. My recovery happened because my husband refused to let me go.

I am learning to trust in the story, thoughts, history, and experiences God has put in my path. These make me who I am. They help me understand another person better. They enable me to encourage someone else. They equip me to walk beside another in understanding, and in love.

Don’t stop connecting with people. Because unless you make that connection, you may never realize that you matter to someone.

And when someone makes an impact on you, don’t miss the opportunity to tell them. Because by saying, “Thank you, you made a difference in my life,” you are validating every hard road they have had to walk down before they reached you.

You are telling them, “You matter to me.”

But even if those words are never spoken to you, journey on, connecting, sharing, praying for the others walking their road. God sees above and beyond. So trust fully that what you don’t understand, God does. The map he’s creating is elaborate, and it is beautiful. And it is based on connecting the dots of our journeys.

It is based on the fact that you matter to someone, and God created you for such a time as this. To love and be loved. Because you matter, by the power of God’s grace.

Make it your life goal to cross as many new paths as you can. Your life is worthy of that calling. God knows it, and deep down, you know it too.

You matter because you are here.