Used

    When I hear the word "used" I instantly picture bad things in my head. I picture used, dirty, shrunken, faded shirts donated to the local Good Will,  I picture girls my age crying themselves to sleep at night because they were used by another boy, I picture the pain that usually comes with being used and the used, dull crayons that are left laying at the bottom of the art drawer. Recently, my perception of the word used changed. I know realize that sometimes being used can in fact be a good thing. That being used by God can be a life changing experience.
     A few short days ago, I was used in a very positive way. Looking back on that evening, I realized how nothing made sense that night. I had to go clean stalls at the barn and I was afraid that I wasn't going to be able to attend youth group that night but I wasn't terribly upset, I figured there's always next week, right? Well somehow time seemed to have stopped while I was a the barn. I cleaned 3 stalls in less than 40 minutes, a job that normally would have taken me near an hour and a half. When I got to youth group, I saw my friend there and I was pleasantly surprised, I never would have guessed she would have come to my youth group. When the message was over, I approached her and talked to her and that was when I noticed that things just didn't seem right. I hugged her and then carried on with talking to my other friends. Then I got home, logged onto Facebook, checked Twitter and all of a sudden felt an urge to text my friend, to ask her what she thought of youth group, to check in on her and remind her I was there for her if she needed anything. That nudge ended up being the Holy Spirit. Although I'm not comfortable sharing the details over the Internet where who knows may find them, God used me to help someone.  After lots of texts back and forth, many tears and praying, I said good night to my friend. She was going through even worse things than I had imagined and if I hadn't texted her, if God hadn't asked me to text her that one night I'm not sure if things would have turned out the way they did. Even my friend said herself "Katie, you are someone sent from God". At the mere age of fifteen, I never would have guessed I could have had such an impact on someones life. I am just truly amazed at how once I opened up and allowed him to, God used me for something so important, so good. I have no doubt in my mind that God was in control of everything that night . Everything was just too coincidental for it to have not been him.
  
   Have you ever been used in a positive way? If so, I'd love to hear about it!