How do people make it through life without a sister?
Let me tell you a little about mine:
Her name is Alexis, but everyone calls her Lexie.
She has the best fashion sense of anyone I know, and I love when she dresses me.
She's the person who is on my case the MOST, but she's also one of the people whose advice I most value.
She thinks she invented speaking in accents (she didn't).
All we do is laugh and drive and eat.
And stress about stupid things.
Launch is coming up faster than I think I'm ready for. Let me rephrase: I'm NOT ready. I don't have all my gear, I don't know if I'll have the right malaria meds, I haven't gone to the bank or talked to the phone company. I haven't seen hardly any of the long lists of people that aren't even on my home team.
All of these fears and concerns have started building up to a symphony in my head- it's so overwhelming some days that I can't even move forward with the little details that can easily be completed.
Tonight, Lexie came and sat down and let me stress about the most trivial concerns that are scaring the living daylights out of me. These are the concerns that are threatening to swallow me alive.
They sound big, huh? Like finances or logistics or homesickness. I wish. Get ready for it:
What if I get fat on the Race?
Yep. I'm not worried about the malaria, I could care less about the tents and sleeping on the ground, wearing dirty clothes and not showering, eating weird foods and using my right hand.
But my weight has me worked into a frenzy.
My wonderful sister didn't laugh at me. She didn't say, "seriously, Natalie, get a grip," like I deserved. She listened, and then she said,
"That's the biggest reason I don't think I could do the Race."
We ended up having a serious conversation about bodies and our culture and what it means to be serving the Lord whole heartedly. I don't think I could have this conversation with anyone else, but Lexie gets me. She's struggled with me, called me out when I stopped eating or started bingeing, wouldn't allow me to define myself by my pant size. She may not always know exactly the right thing to say, but she's always there when I'm pas tthe place that words can help.
I don't know how people make it through life without sisters, but I am so overwhelmingly grateful for mine.
Launch is in a few days (January 2nd).
Please be praying for all of the final preparations– this morning I sent out about a hundred support letters, I still have to get the rest of my gear, clean out Abuelita's, pack, and get ready for the Farewell Party on Monday. If you're in the NOVA area, we'd all love to see you, anytime 4-9pm.
Also, please be praying that my heart is focused on the what is truly important- it's NOT how much I weigh, but how many opportunities I'm going to have to serve.
Thanks, team.
