I am very loved. The outpouring of support from that post smothered me with love and encouragement. I honestly didn't expect such feedback. God reminded me not only that He is walking this journey alongside us, but also that hundreds of people who love us are here to just keep loving us. Where I feared judgment or criticism, I instead received grace, encouragement, and support. Thank you for loving us so well. It is humbling to be part of such a community.
We all face the unknown. So many people shared with me their own stories of "anything." All of us come to that place where we must choose to stay safe or go with God. In that act of risking everything, stepping out into anything, we find God. And we find our true selves.
God is always faithful. Always. Every single person who shared with me about how they chose to trust God found Him trustworthy. I haven't heard one person say, "I chose not to stay safe, and now I regret it."
Sharing our stories gives us strength. Your stories have strengthened my own faith, brought me hope, and relieved my fears. I find courage when I see that others before me have acted courageously. We are called to share our stories. Experiencing life together weaves us together strand by strand--I'm part of your journey, and you're part of mine. When we hold back from sharing our stories, we withhold a piece of this amazing tapestry God is weaving. We miss the chance to encourage someone else and be encouraged in return. When you are real with me, I want to be real with you.
Thank you.
Yesterday was graduation at the school where we have served for 12 years. It was strange; even as we celebrated the graduates, I couldn't help thinking we were facing our own graduation of sorts. A time of preparation and learning has come to a close, and now it's time for the next step.
It's hard to let go of something that gives you such a sense of belonging. This school has been my place of belonging for most of my life. Ben and I both went to and graduated from DPCA, our parents served there in many ways, we both taught and served there, and our kids go there. While we will still belong in a different sense (and our kids will still go there), I have felt like a piece of my identity is being removed somehow.
But yesterday God reminded me. My identity is in HIM. My belonging is in HIM. And that school--and everyone in it--also belongs in Him. I cannot put my sense of self in a place or a person or a job. Here's a favorite quote from C.S. Lewis:
“Your real, new self (which is Christ's and also yours, and yours just because it is His) will not come as long as you are looking for it. It will come when you are looking for Him. Does that sound strange? . . . The principle runs through all life from top to bottom, Give up yourself, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it. Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favourite wishes every day and death of your whole body in the end submit with every fibre of your being, and you will find eternal life. Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.” (from Mere Christianity)
Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead.
I want to experience Him totally, completely, fully, in every way. I want to find my real self. And even in all these changes and lettings-go, I have seen Him leading and felt His peace.
What is God asking you to die to? Where is he asking you to jump? What are you keeping back? Let's go all in together.
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