52 Lists: Week 12

This week, I concluded was a giant lesson of monstrous proportions. It felt like one of those lessons like when I learned to cook. It required trust, patience, and a peace that passes all understanding. It all occurred as I began to reconstruct the kitchen in my house. From the get-go, the kitchen has been my least favorite room in the home. That being said, I was prepared and ready to make it adorable. And then it happened: water began to leak on my kitchen floor. Then the stove broke. Then the seal on the refrigerator was out. Then the washer decided to break. My hands went up and all I could do was laugh.

A dear friend and father in the Lord once spoke to me:

Home is where we have to live out what's in our hearts. Ministry begins at home.

I've always believed this, but truly began to see in the natural what was happening in the spiritual. There was change all around me. Some of it I could control, but most of it I couldn't control. All of this caused me to take a look back and to seek what was truly happening in my heart. I came to this conclusion: I had difficulty trusting. I had difficulty letting go and believing that God's timing was perfect.

Patience. Routine. Unexpected. Depth. Fulfillment.

These are the words for this week. Every situation required patience to the deepest core. It required my heart to take a step back from the routine--habitual occurrences. And in the moment that I stepped back, the unexpected happened. Help came through for my broken appliances. My kitchen began to evolve. Conversations happened. And peace came. A depth of peace that I had never known. My eyes were opened to how when I let go, fulfillment would occur. 

And it did. So, this week and as I move forward into week 13, I choose to let it go. 

52 Lists: Week 11

Inhabit. Built. Satisfy. Committed. Blessing.

Each moment is a gift. Each second (especially in the mundane) is an honor. Our lives are fragile and to wake each morning and to be breathing and taking in life is such a treasure. My heart has been realizing this day after day.

This week was the beginning of a season of transition in my life. I packed all of my belongings up and moved across town into a new home. I said goodbye to apartment living and hello to a house with a backyard. I inhabited a new area. Not only is this my physical address, but it's where my heart and soul dwell. As I unpacked all of my things and began to set up home with my new housemate in a new home, I began to build--in the physical and spiritual. In the natural, I went to work on a pallet kitchen table, an outdoor bench, and wall hangings. I also travailed spiritually--praying over each room and preparing the space for the Holy Spirit to feel at home.

Choose today whom you will serve...But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. 

-Joshua 24:15

As things began to transition with my new home, so they have been transitioning in my heart. I'm realizing again and again that it is only the Lord who will satisfy. Only he will fulfill every crevice in my heart. Nothing in this world comes close to the fullness that I find in Jesus. And so, I have decided time and time again that my roots are planted deep. My heart and mind are secure. I am committed. I'm all in--with relationships, with this home, with ministry, but above all with Jesus.

He has blessed me in every sense of the word and I am stirred to praise him. He places his hand upon me and blesses me--teaching me in this season how to receive, how to be pursued, how to see him in the biggest of pictures and the smallest of details. 

This week marks a season of newness in my heart and mind. My prayer is that you will allow Jesus to inhabit and build his truth in your heart and mind. I pray that he alone satisfies you like no other and that you, in turn, are committed to him alone--seeing the wonderful blessing of his fellowship.

Until next week...