1. "The Power of Agreement" ~ We agree on so much these days. Let's pick the right battles and agree on love and goodness; breaking down walls of death and building up walls of life that the enemy cannot defeat.
2. "Help me out of my hamster wheel, Lord."
3. "Growth vs. Change" ~ It's the difference in seeing yourself as training as opposed to trying. It's changing my perspective on teaching myself, leaning on God to develop me, and giving myself grace in the process. We say, "I want to change." God says, "I want you to grow." He wants us to bear "fruit;" show growth. Change can feel negative, be negative, feel hopeless. Growth has promise in it; it is full of HOPE! A wise woman taught me this. Thank you Stephanie.
4. "Learning that we all have limits. Mine apparently aren't geographical." ~ A season of getting more and more excited about leaving my comfort zone and traveling the world.
5. "Life isn't always pretty. Pretending like it is only makes us non-relatable." ~ A friend of mine told me about how the movie "Blue Like Jazz" was being banned by churches to keep it from being shown in some US cities. Apparently there's some controversial subject matter in the movie, though the book the movie is based on is a Christian book. From the previews I saw, it looks like a portrayal of college: drinking, sex, confusion, questioning the existence of God. And I'm guessing the young man comes to know Truth by the end. Sounds like a true portrayal of college to me, and a portrayal of the majority of teens and twenty year olds lives in the US today… including my own and a number of friends' experiences in college; a number of great Christian friends I know. It can be hard being real in a world that likes to paint a pretty picture over ugly truths. But being honest and telling the world that God can come in and cover those ugly truths with His redeeming love and turn a mess of a life into a miracle, that's what our witness is all about. That's how we relate; that's how we reach. If Christians look like we've always had it together and never experienced and lived in sin, how do we touch a life that's in sin. Transparency means showing where God has brought you from, and it's not always pretty, but it's worth being real. Being real brings hope, hope brings truth, and truth births salvation. It's better we not always look pretty and allow God to save a life, than stay pretty and "all put together" and a life stay in the dark.
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I actually had four more to add to this list, but found that as I typed this, those ideas are going to grow so much more as I venture out into the world on this journey. They have a specific time, after a divine moment, in which they are meant to be shared. And that time is not quite yet. So, they now sit in my "documents" box waiting to be grown into full blogs of God's work in this vessel.
Till then…
Much love and lots of hugs,
Monica
