Exhortation If you have been watching my videos on Rumble or keeping up with my mini-lessons and such, you know I have MYASTHENIA GRAVIS and have struggled with it for close to a decade now. It is a neurological disease that makes it impossible for me to work, drive, and participate in normal adult social situations. I can't walk, see well, or lift more than 5 pounds. I'll be honest, there are many days that the pain is too great to even get out of my chair. There are many days when I miss being able to do basic adult type things, go alone to a mall, stroll a public park, things I could do before 2017 and can't anymore. During this long journey back to God, I have earnestly desired to do SOMETHING for the Lord. I have so many failures in life, places where I should have been doing His will and wasn't. It was the result of choices I made when I was younger. And now that I am incapable, I want to do something for Him and couldn't. It was getting depressing. And then I found this verse: Romans 12:6-8 [6] However, since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to use them properly: if prophecy, in proportion to one’s faith; [7] if service, in the act of serving; or the one who teaches, in the act of teaching; [8] or the one who exhorts, in the work of exhortation; the one who gives, with generosity; the one who is in leadership, with diligence; the one who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. I was so concerned with the fact that there are so many things I can no longer do that I began to feel useless. It broke my heart to think that I can't preach, teach, or walk around witnessing like I've seen a resurgence of online. But. And that's a very large ‘but’. What I can do is exhort, encourage you through my experience. I've gone through some of the most difficult painful experiences a person can have and many times these can act to bring us closer to Him though some may choose to use these things as an excuse to walk away from God entirely, as I almost did. I randomly experience intense pain. Yet, I will praise Him. I get discouraged due to my own limitations. Yet I will serve Him in any way I am able. I get angry with God sometimes, but I will trust Him, that despite everything His plan for my life is 1000 times better than what I could dream up. I feel alone many times in my situation. Yet He is with me. I feel lost sometimes, condemned because of my past. Yet He loves me intensely, as a father loves his child. I feel ‘fake’ sometimes like I'm not really the person I am. Yet He knows me intimately. I feel weak sometimes, like I simply lack the strength to do what I know must be done. Yet God IS my strength. God showed me that the ‘gift’ I can use to serve Him is exhortation or encouragement. And while I may not be the greatest teacher or preacher alive, Romans makes it clear that what I can do is encourage others. And that that encouragement is many times as valuable for the person as giving, something I am not really able to do. So here it is, brothers and sisters in Christ, if you need encouragement email me here: DAVIDSPORCH59[GMAIL].COM. We can chat and I can just be a person to listen to you. If you don't need encouragement then encourage me with your story, your testimony. Sometimes we ALL need it. May God bless these efforts to be a community and as long as I am able, I will respond. Keep the faith, and I may not have an answer for you, but we could pray together in agreement to exhort and encourage you.