Dancing in the Rain

Happy Valentine's weekend! I know for many single people this can be a hard season. I'd be lying if I tried to claim I've never struggled with some extra longing for a person to call my own around Valentine's! I've technically been single for 34 years. But, we'll only count the ones since I was old enough to think about being in a romantic relationship, which still brings us to like 20 years. That's a lot of practice at something when you think about it! As encouragement to all the singles out there on Valentine's day, and as a wrap up to this series on singleness that has been a year in the making, I thought I would share a few things I've learned are key to remember in this journey. Chase Jesus.  Really and truly, this is THE most important thing for anyone, in any stage of life, to remember. More than chasing dreams, goals, applause, status, money, power, attention, or even relationships, we need to be chasing Jesus. We need to be building our liv...

Happy Thanksgiving!!  Or, day after Thanksgiving, anyway. I hope you all had a wonderful, blessed day yesterday, whatever your celebrations may have looked like!!  Today's post is simply an unedited prayer that I wrote as a poem in March of 2018 and recently re-discovered when I was clearing out the notes on my phone. Since it fits so perfectly with what I've been talking about, I thought I'd give you a glimpse into the raw emotion that I often feel is best expressed with a little rhythm and rhyme. Enjoy!   Hello, Lord, it's me again,  Back in this old place again  Where it feels like all my dreams have come to die.  The life that I thought I would live,  With a godly husband and lots of kids,  Seems more and more impossible every day.  I want to be held in strong, gentle arms,  Be loved by a man who will shield me from harm,  Someone to snuggle besides just a teddy bear.  I want someone to walk through life with,  To laug...

 Yep. Buckle up, we're going there. This post might get a little uncomfortable, but it's a topic that can't exactly be ignored! And, as I said at the beginning of this little "series" earlier this year, "my goal is to be uncomfortably honest, vulnerable, real, raw." Besides, the world is talking about sex all the time , and if we as Jesus-followers don't talk about it from a Jesus-perspective, the world is going to shape the views and opinions of sex for an entire generation. Or two. Or more.  Let's start with some basic statements just for the sake of clarity: 1. Sex is God's idea, and it is good.  All through the Bible, from Adam & Eve being "naked & unashamed" in the garden of Eden (Genesis 2), to the graphic love poetry of Song of Solomon, to Paul exhorting husbands and wives to freely share their bodies with one another in 1 Corinthians 7, the Bible paints a picture of sex within marriage being good, beautiful, encourag...

To all my married friends: Please don't forget about me. I need you. Let me explain. I need to know I'm not half of a whole. I know that none of you consciously believe this, but sometimes it can seem like that's what you think. When only couples or families get invited to lunch after church, dinner, game nights, etc, it can make those of us who are "unattached" feel a little less-than. It makes it super easy to fall for the lie that I will only have value to offer the community once I have a partner. I need to know that marriage is not easy. I can sometimes get trapped in "the grass is greener" thinking, as if singleness is a hard season to be endured but once/if I get married it will all be great! I know better, of course; I know that neither singleness nor marriage is easier than the other, that each season has its own difficulties and joys. But sometimes I need to be reminded, and what better way to be reminded than to get to see YOUR marriage up c...

I’ve always been a dreamy romantic at heart. My mom likes to tell the story of when I was a little girl and she found pencil marks all over a door frame in our house. She questioned us kids, and we all insisted we had definitely not been drawing on the door frame. As she continued to press us, the story came out: I was a princess, locked in a tower, and the pencil had been my “key.” Yep, my special talent as a child was getting lost in my own little world. Fast forward a few years, to when I was about 11 years old. I was just beginning to think boys were more cute than annoying, the concept of dating just starting to appear on my (distant) horizon. And then my parents came home from a conference and excitedly told us about this “new” concept they had heard about: courtship. Now, if you don’t already know, the definitions of “courtship” range from glorified dating, to just shy of arranged marriage. My parents, having just discovered the idea, weren’t sure yet where our family...

satisfied. Something about the word just stirs me deep in my soul. I see the world around me running at a frantic pace in search of satisfaction. Commercials tell us this thing or that thing will satisfy us, books tell us that this lifestyle or that diet will satisfy us, we reach for this job or that degree or those relationships to satisfy us. But every time we jump a fence we discover that the grass is not actually greener on the other side.  We remain unsatisfied. We even have a song all about how "I can't get no satisfaction." I can't sing that song. Not because it's a 1965 rock song, but because it isn't true for me. I  can  get satisfaction. I am, in fact,  satisfied . Deeply, securely, forever,  singularly satisfied . Why the focus on singularly ?  I'm so glad you asked! See, I got the idea for this blog post on Valentine's Day.  As a single person.  Again/still.  My social media was filled to overflowing with t...

Let's talk about dreams. And goals. After all, a little way in to the new year, that's what everyone is talking about, right? I am a dreamer. I always have been. As my parents will laughingly confirm, my ability to get completely lost in my own little dream world is pretty solid. Although I have outgrown the stage where this leads me to leave pencil marks on door frames (apparently, I was a princess locked in a tower and the pencil was my key) or spend 10 minutes washing one plate, I can still happily entertain myself for long periods of time with nothing but my own thoughts. I like my dream world. Everything works out just the way I want it to there! In real life...not so much. That doesn't stop me from having "in real life" dreams, though. I may have to wait longer than I planned or it may look different than I imagined, but I think dreams are important. Dreams keep us moving forward, keep us growing, give us purpose and hope. I believe dreams are somethin...

Some would no doubt consider it a strange "Sabbath kick-off", but for me a trip to Six Flags Over Texas (in Arlington) was just the ticket! Between my love of roller coasters, the nostalgia this place holds, and the healthy benefits of fresh air and sunshine, it was fantastic. Oh, and the company was pretty great, too. The only thing that could have made it better would have been to have my "OG Six Flags fam" along--aka, my family and the Vests, of course! Six Flags has always been about facing and overcoming fear for me. I was a very fearful/timid child, and as an adult looking back I think one of the best things my parents did for my little anxious self was take me to ride roller coasters!! (I would insert the "tears of joy" emoji here if I could!) I was coaxed and cajoled on to rides I was hesitant about, but never forced to ride anything--though I waited in every line with them and I was not allowed to complain. Every year, there were rides where ...

"No battle plan survives contact with the enemy."  --Helmuth von Moltke the Elder (Chief of Staff of the Prussian army before World War 1) Well, so much for posting once a week! Although, I suppose if I had really thought about it I would have realized that right at the beginning of summer was not the time to take on that lofty goal. It was a busy summer, as per usual, and there was a grand finale of camp directly followed by a mission trip. Y'all, I'm not as young as I once was, and those 2 weeks back-to-back just about did me in!! However, they were great weeks and the Lord moved and worked and did great things, so it was TOTALLY worth it!  But now, it's August. This is the month where everyone at House of Faith takes a step back and just breathes for a little while. It's the only month of the year where we don't have programs, so everyone takes vacation during this month. And even when we are at work, it's nice and quiet and slow. C...

It's been exactly 4 years since my last blog post. What?! Where has the time gone?! Life has been busy, and as I look back I'm really sad that writing is one of the things I let fall by the wayside. Lately, the Lord has been stirring in my heart, reawakening dreams and passions that have been buried too long by the "tyranny of the urgent". Writing is one of those things, and this blog in particular. I want to be more intentional with the blog than I was before, although I don't have a really clear picture yet of what that will look like. I'm starting with a simple goal of posting at least once a week! Reboot: the dictionary definition says " to make a change in (something) in order to establish a new beginning". That sounds about right! The new design is more simple and focused than it used to be, which is indicative of where I want to go with it moving forward. For this post, let me just give you a snapshot view of my life as it is now (beca...

Hello, blogworld!! Actually...I'm pretty sure my "blog audience" is mostly imaginary, since my last blog post has a whopping 1 page view. But, I am OK with that. Because I was reminded recently, as I typed out a "happy birthday" e-mail to a dear friend, how much I miss just putting thoughts into words via a keyboard. The sound of the keys and seeing the words appear and tweaking them to be just so...it's   almost   as inspiring as a blank sheet of paper and cool pens. So maybe I mostly blog for myself.  Or maybe I'm just weird. :) So I could try to go back and recount life up to this point, but the thought of that is overwhelming and a large part of why I haven't blogged so much in the last couple years. Therefore, I believe I will instead fill everyONE ;) in on my life ...   currently . Currently, I am sitting outside on our steps, enjoying some gorgeous 91 degree weather (for real, it's beautiful), a gentle breeze, birds chirping, th...

"Wonderful are Your works; my soul knows it very well."   (Psalm 139:14) My soul knows, with greatest certainty, that His works are wonderful . Knows it because I have seen it, experienced it,  tasted it,  walked in it,  lived it. But what about when I can't see it? What about the times when my soul is dry and thirsty, my heart fragile and broken and longing for something more? His works are still wonderful. When life is hard -- His works are wonderful. When the way seems long -- His works are wonderful. When life is not turning out the way I expected -- His works are wonderful. When teenagers die and we at House of Faith have to walk through that valley with the families and other students and we are surrounded by pain and grief and questions with no answers... His works are wonderful. So when I don't see it, feel it, taste it -- the truth doesn't change . I just have to remind myself of it, rehearse it over and over until it is th...

Fear not. Because God Almighty --        the One who created the universe?        the One whom victory meets at every step? Yeah, He walks with you.                He carries you,                     He has chosen you,                          He holds your hand,                               He is your Redeemer. Fear not. (Isaiah 41, summarized and paraphrased :) )

"The given life"...I'm not sure who coined that phrase, but I'm quite sure it wasn't me. :) Hudson Taylor called it "the exchanged life", A.W. Tozer called it "the crucified life"...it's entirely possible that Eric Ludy is the first person I heard call it "the given life", but I don't really think he came up with the name, either. Regardless of its origin, it's a descriptive name I am coming to love more and more for the life I live. Jonathan Edwards said, "I have been this day before God, and have given myself, all that I am and all that I have, to God; so that I am in no respect my own. I claim no right to myself, no right to this understanding, this will, these affections that are in me. Neither do I have any right to this body or its members, no right to this tongue, to these hands, feet, ears or eyes. I have given myself clear away and not retained anything of my own." "I have given myself clea...