FHS

There is a group of women, members of DOK, who often use these letters when they sign letters or notes that they send to other people. After sending encouraging notes for a period of time to someone who was struggling, she asked me – What does FHS stand for? You use it every time you send me a note.

FHS stands for “For His Sake.” When I sign the notes I’m sending you with FHS it reminds me of two things – that I am living For His Sake, not for my own self but I live because he wills me to live. The group of women known as DOK (Daughters of the King) are a Christian group of women who make vows of prayer, service and evangelism, For His Sake, to bring glory to His name and to bring or draw people into a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. I’m writing encouraging notes to you not only because I care for you, but because God loves you. So much that Jesus Christ lived and died and rose again for you. So I sign my notes For His Sake to remind me that I’m writing to you on his behalf so you will know and feel the presence of his love and care for you in your difficult time.

FHS – the letters floated through my mind and quickened in my heart today during a Baptismal Service at church this morning. We baptize people, not for our own sake, but For His Sake. In the church I attend Baptism is considered to be a Sacrament – an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace. When adults are baptized, they make promises for themselves to live for Christ. When adults bring their children to be baptized, they are reminded of the vows once made for them, and if they were confirmed the vows they made for themselves and that they are now making for their children. Parents and Sponsors make a promise to raise their children in the faith – the congregation who witness this promise also promises to help the parents and children in this journey, FHS – not for our sakes – but to help the Gospel continue to spread throughout the church and the world.

FHS is more than a post-scrip or a ps . . . and now you know what it means to those who use it. FHS may be used by other people, but I only know of it’s use in the Daughters of the King. We don’t make or ask anyone to take a vow of poverty or live a cloistered life, we don’t have to remain single. We simply choose to share the gospel message however each of is called and gifted in the areas of prayer, service and evangelism.

When I wrote the book “Praying Our Way Through Stress: Drawing Wisdom from the Lord’s Life and Prayer” I didn’t write it for me. I didn’t write it to become a best seller or to become a famous author. I wrote it For His Sake, in an effort to help bring people into a more meaningful relationship with God through Christ. I wrote it in hopes of helping people learn how to pray more like Jesus and to seek His will and plan for their lives.

Let us pray,

Lord thank you for the little reminders you whisper into our hearts and minds. Thank you for giving us the gift of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ, who was also baptized. Thank you for the gospel lessons and teachings we glean from the biblical stories of his life and relationships with other people and the example of how we should live together and love one another. Help us to increase our own faith and to draw others into a meaningful relationship with you. We ask this for your sake and the building up of a more heavenly reflection of life in this generation. AMEN