Learning



All I can say is, "Praise the Lord for spring break!"

It began with waiting in line twice with a dear friend + my sister, burning our mouths as we tried to eat steaming pizza in less than three minutes, and eventually seeing Mat Kearney in concert. 

I'm thankful for a chance to slow down and catch up on what feels like a too-long to-do list for spring break (but I'm a list girl, so checking boxes is oddly satisfying). I'm thankful for sister dates and our small town. I'm thankful for random Target runs and waffle-cakes and ending up on the kitchen floor, tangled and laughing and getting trampled by dogs. I'm thankful for dreams of tomorrow and I'm thankful for today. It's all these things that make me realize how important my roots are and how they are such a deep, essential part of me. I feel like I just keep learning and growing, and as I become more rooted, my wings grow, too. Truth yields freedom. 

I'm learning to find rest in becoming fully who I am. I'm trying to understand that the things I often feel are my flaws are actually intentionally crafted parts of who I am. It's a process of knowing who I am in Christ and how He has gifted me differently from other people.

I'm learning that faith must always come before feeling. Feelings are great, but I have to be grounded in truth, because feelings come and go, and each has an opposite that is bound to follow. And when I'm riding on these feelings, then thrown off by them, it's harder to believe truth when I can't feel it.

I'm learning that it is hard, logical, lifegiving, hard, freeing, and peace-yielding to trust in the Lord. With all my heart. To say "whatever my God ordains is right" and to believe it. To continually unclench my fists, open them upward and say, "Lord, Your will be done". To do battle inside my heart against my sinful patterns, to call out to Him, and to repent. To surrender my plans, my hopes, my preferences, my entitlement, my everything and trust that He has good plans and wants good things for His children. To trust that He knows better and He will provide. To acknowledge Him in all my ways... and He will make my paths straight. What a sweet promise!

I'm learning that life comes with growing pains that I didn't expect. With each new season, nostalgia weighs heavy on my heart and it aches as I look ahead and see so much change on the horizon. A lot of it is exciting, some is unclear, most of it is "normal" (whatever the heck that means), and some of it is kind of [really] hard. But God is so sovereign and I am ready to see how He chooses to stretch me.

I'm also learning that I have a hard time publishing my blog posts. Apparently I'm more careful/ perfectionistic/ unsure of myself/ write too much of what I expect people don't want to read than I thought. As in, I have more unpublished drafts than published posts. Ugh. So once again, here's to being authentic and throwing my thoughts out there. Cheers!

3 comments:

  1. You have such a lovely gift in being able to write about these things. :) I sure know what you're talking about here... Especially the aches with change on the horizon. But what a gift to be able to turn to Christ with these things, and know He is always looking out for us. :)

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  2. So much love for you Linds! Your words are always good for my heart!
    xx-
    Sarah

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  3. Wow. your words. So true. God has definitely gifted you to be able to express yourself by writing. :) and I love how your artistic side shines through in that even your phone photos are interesting and beautiful.

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