lupita nyong'o
Quite a few conversations this week with friends who fear aging, pregnancy, and changes in their physical beauty. Mulling through scripture and asking the Lord for wisdom - if anything is revealed, I'll be sure to share. However, this Oscar winning lady nailed my current perspective.
Start with your heart ladies. Tune it to seek grace, use God's strength, and to share every gift you've been given.
those fading blues.
January started with three friends on vacation at the Rose Bowl parade and ready for a Spartan victory.
February began with a car full of my cousin and her college friends - excited to spend Saturday night in cozy gray chairs of Riverview.
March rolled in with late night Lansing tunes, icy parking lots, short rest, and 1100+ high school students excited about pursuing health careers and eager to compete for their gold medals (very much like lions).
This month holds thirty one days of work hours and to-do lists - best friend's birthdays and college basketball games. It shouldn't vary far from the other March months I've lived,
but tonight the even sky whispered something different.
The evening orange was not quick to turn to night time blue - it was not eager to leave. It seemed very much like a reminder, asking me to hold today with just as much care as tomorrow.
January's practice was making exercise a priority.
February asked for consistency in prayers.
March holds something undetermined to me - but it feels full and light all at the same time. It feels just like I'm settling into some kind of fruitful rhythm.
Excited to unfold God's provision this month. Grateful to be a part of the gospel's growth and definition of blessings in "loving the unlovable and comforting the sorrowful" (The One Thing Christians Should Stop Saying).
Grateful for depth, for committment, and for God's beautiful ways of revealing His truths.
February began with a car full of my cousin and her college friends - excited to spend Saturday night in cozy gray chairs of Riverview.March rolled in with late night Lansing tunes, icy parking lots, short rest, and 1100+ high school students excited about pursuing health careers and eager to compete for their gold medals (very much like lions).
This month holds thirty one days of work hours and to-do lists - best friend's birthdays and college basketball games. It shouldn't vary far from the other March months I've lived,
but tonight the even sky whispered something different.
The evening orange was not quick to turn to night time blue - it was not eager to leave. It seemed very much like a reminder, asking me to hold today with just as much care as tomorrow.
January's practice was making exercise a priority.
February asked for consistency in prayers.
March holds something undetermined to me - but it feels full and light all at the same time. It feels just like I'm settling into some kind of fruitful rhythm.
Excited to unfold God's provision this month. Grateful to be a part of the gospel's growth and definition of blessings in "loving the unlovable and comforting the sorrowful" (The One Thing Christians Should Stop Saying).
Grateful for depth, for committment, and for God's beautiful ways of revealing His truths.
on answered prayers.
Answers to past prayers are often missed in the lists of our most recent prayers. This weekend paved the way to a reminder of a prayer whispered three years ago and some unexpected time (had to cancel a trip to Memphis) to rest in what the Lord has provided. I write filled with so much gratitude.
Last night we were shoulder to shoulder around a kitchen island with cars loaded and coats still on - lost in the blessing of another Saturday evening together. We are a small group of newer friends who share hearts for Saturday night church and fellowship. I can't move forward in this post without acknowledging the timeliness of the Lord's hand that has woven me into the mix of these beautifully independent souls.
Last night we were shoulder to shoulder around a kitchen island with cars loaded and coats still on - lost in the blessing of another Saturday evening together. We are a small group of newer friends who share hearts for Saturday night church and fellowship. I can't move forward in this post without acknowledging the timeliness of the Lord's hand that has woven me into the mix of these beautifully independent souls.
Our conversation often leads to how we've been using our gift of singleness and what relationships the Lord has been bringing into our lives. Andy Stanley's sermon from 2011 was referenced (The New Rules for Love, Sex, and Dating) and friends quoted words I'd been blessed to hear over 3 years ago.
The same link was sent my way in 2011- in the midst of a season of my walk that didn't have anything to give & didn't feel worthy of receiving. A month later, after my departure from the city I had called home for 11 months, I decided to switch from my "Back Roads" play list to this Andy Stanley's wisdom.
In order to follow the rest of this post, I recommend starting the series: "The Right Person Myth" and know that the take home from this message was: "Becoming the person who the person you are looking for is looking for is hard. But it is not as hard as getting married and being unprepared. Think about a couple of things you can do this week to become that person—the right person."
What I was leaving was a punctured wound seeping with lack of closure. What I saw myself driving towards was my historical legalistic self - uncertain of how I would walk in the Spirit. It was dark, deep, and not a place I thought my 23 year old mind would ever be. As Andy's voice carried me through another 60 miles of Texas highways I kept thinking, "I'm not sure I would know how to become the person someone else is looking for." I also thought, "Even if I did become that person, I was not worthy of having that person."
Knowing this was nothing my God writes in His gospel of Jesus Christ, knowing full well that this was not rooted in truth - my tear splashed prayers on that open road asked God to change my heart. I asked Him BOLDLY for thoughts that actually rooted for my heart and for thoughts that rooted for the possibility of having a person to marry someday. I finished by asking Him for clarity on where I could practice this act of "becoming" ...
In the last 20 minutes, Andy digs into 1 Corinthians 13 and starts talking about patience. He reminds listeners that love is patient and it never pressures, gives as much time and space as the other person needs. When I heard this, I knew this was my starting point. To become "the person" it started with patience - and this patience needed to be practice with myself first so it could overflow into my relationships with others.
It's been a muddy, tough, confrontational, three years. It's also been a grace filled, deep in light, baptized in the Spirit, rich in wisdom, saturated in truth three years. I couldn't give God a timeline; but I could ask Him for time, acknowledge the work He has done in His time, and walk intentionally with the time that he gave me.
The art of "becoming" is a forever adventure of leaning in and trusting. So today, I''m grateful for this answered prayer of patience. I'm hopeful that I'm closer to being the "person" and humbled daily that the best action I can take is to pray. Pray that (in the Lord's time) I am becoming the woman who the man the Lord wants me to marry is looking for.
And pray that someday, the practice of patience leads to another answered prayer in my walk - and in yours.
(*Take a look at the prayers you've written in your typed entries/journals/notes over the years. You'll be incredibly encouraged in all the ways the Lord has answered. If you don't currently write down your prayers, do it. I'll even buy you paper and a special pen.)
(*Take a look at the prayers you've written in your typed entries/journals/notes over the years. You'll be incredibly encouraged in all the ways the Lord has answered. If you don't currently write down your prayers, do it. I'll even buy you paper and a special pen.)
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