We’re being rewired into family. And family is an evolving,
bouncing ball: depending on what we put into it, it can change shape and form,
be extremely playful or extremely threatening (there are many places to play
ball—the street is not preferred, i.e. lets continue to create a safe
atmosphere!), hopeful and life giving or graceless and detrimental.
(If you are praying, pray we continue to mature and grow
into truly healthy relationships growing past having mutual respect to truly
honouring one another…that Christ would be present in all we do, even now as we
grow into this team He can use. THANKS)
I, for one, am having a fantastic time growing alongside
these guys. I appreciate the leaps and bounds they make, the ways they try to
bury themselves in the Lord, the ways they grapple with their frustration until
it turns for their good, the way they see into each other (and me) for all that
we are worth and call it out! Next week the topic in lectures is “Relationships”
and I don’t even know how good it’s going to be: I just know that this is a
week the Lord is excited for, especially for me, and I can’t wait to see what
He points out and restores.
It’s so good to be around people who are actively growing into
wholeness and doing it pointedly before you. There’s a reason YWAM embraces
community living as a core value: this closeness allows you to be revealed as
you really are and see each other up close every day, the beautiful ways that we
have learned to live out love. There’s one mom on base who always takes time
for her young son—and that’s really healing for me to see, for whatever reason.
And it’s little moments like that, where we really get to see each other every
day that make this place and what the Lord is doing so unique.
I had a hard moment this week, where I had to share and face
a hard reality of my life. I shared the moment and what God was revealing right
after with my roommates (who all happened to show up at the same time) and the
Lord used them to speak such life into me, showing me where God had already
gone before to redeem me and even assured me that my life blessed them. God
redeems. He lets us live close, be known, be seen and I…am just in awe.
I know we don’t all get the opportunity (and may not be made
for that kind of intentional living—God, in all His diversity, arranged us for
all sorts of lovely ways of living out healthy lives…this is not about whether
you’re in communal housing or not) but be aware of the lives you affect every
day. You may think you are just bopping along (“You do you!” as some people say)
and totally, be yourself! But be aware—like, in awe—of the fact that God is
using you in His own way every day. Submit to that: you are the living
sacrifice. You think you’re walking to the bus stop—but you just offered a
smile to someone that literally lifted them from despair. You are just getting
a haircut—but as you talk and encourage those around you, you are giving them
hope. You are just sitting with your sister—but you’re letting her know by your
nearness that she is important to you. You are just playing with your kid—but that
soon-to-be mother across the room from you is learning how to parent.
So thank you, wherever you are, whatever you do. You make a
difference in this world. You are significant. Your voice needs to be heard.
You do you—the world changes. And it may be small at first—but being
faithful, even in that small thing, can have huge significance. You never know
how the Lord will add to it when you ask Him. He has more to offer, more to
give—keep asking.
Still hungry and always full—the paradox of His Kingdom in
you!
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