So I've been meaning for blog for a while, but timing never felt right. The past few weeks (and maybe even months) I've just really felt that I've had nothing good to say. Not just to share online, but to say to anyone. Family, friends, strangers; anyone. But tonight, I was standing on the balcony of my hotel room in Puerto Vallarta and I just had to start writing.
The letter I wrote isn't something I'm going to share, but I wanted to copy a few lines.
"I’m going to make a really terrible reference right now but
bear with me. I was just watching an episode of The Office (don’t judge me) and
Michael was really upset that Holly had a new boyfriend (this is season five, mind
you) and it got me thinking. How upset is God when we cheat on Him? How upset
and heartbroken is the King of Kings when we make choices everyday that
dishonor Him? Yet He still loves us. He still unconditionally loves and cares
for us, completely. Our every need, desire, ache; everything is taken care of.
He promises to lift us up. The love God pours into us is unfathomable to me. It
is simply amazing; this amount of grace and love and care. Wow.
Hope, for me, isn’t
something lost, but something I live on. Faith. Hope. Love. And that’s the key
to life. Living “the life” isn’t about being the wealthiest, the prettiest, the
skinniest, the most liked. It’s about having faith in the One True God, hope in
His promises, and loving from the place in our heart that God overflowed."
Now this letter, in its entirety, will be read by one person some day in the future I do not know. But I think this part of the message is universal. Disregard the source of my inspiration; God's love for us is blatant. It's plain and true and simple. He loves us no matter what.
I'm reading this book right now called Soul Healing and the author Tammy Smith (who is an awesome lady if I do say so myself) shared something I have found more and more relevant. She shares the idea that every smile, every laugh, every good time we have is God loving on us. He wants to show us how much He loves us! WOW!!! This is crazy!!! It's taken me days just to unpack that tiny paragraph in this 200-something page book. But what a true statement. God is loving on us in all of the ways that we enjoy ourselves. (Now you can't make fun of me for The Office reference!)
On a completely different note,I was just thinking about the sub-heading on my blog. Something about how I'm a fashion student and blah blah blah. I was thinking to myself, "Gosh, I can't wait to change that title. Finally have a career or be a mom or something like that. Something more permanent." But wait a second, there's two things wrong with that thought. Number one, all things are temporary. Life itself is temporary. All of the different "chapters" of life, if you will, are temporary. And that brings me to point number two: all of these different experiences and locations and titles are molding us further and further each day into who God desires for us to become. Think about it, without your experiences as a child, or even as a young adult, you wouldn't be where you are today.
I love the example my friend shared with me once. As you know, I've been blessed to become involved with an on-campus ministry called h2o church. Randomly one day I asked my friend to share with me how he got involved with h2o. He goes on to say that last year he lived in a residence hall and his R.A. happened to be involved in h2o. He became really close with his R.A. and his R.A. invited him to hangouts and services. Then, by God's grace, he got saved! But get this: if he had lived on a different floor of that building, a floor above or below, he would not have had that same experience. God specifically wanted him on that floor of that residence hall because God desired to capture my friend's heart. And honestly, I think God orchestrated that in a beautiful way.
God is using everything about us to advance His kingdom, but He's also using all of our time. Not a second of a day is wasted in God's eyes.
You are making us new God! You make me new.
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!"
2 Corinthians 5:17
