The past couple months for me have been about learning — about love, patience, communication, and even vulnerability. With the simple and yet wildly complex choice for me to stay home instead of the Year Race, God has taught me so much. He’s taught me the depths of friendship and has blessed me with such a strong group of friends, people and groups that will last me a lifetime, both from high school and this awkward season of the in-between.
Graduating high school is a reality check for sure. You don’t see people every day like you used to, those that you thought were the absolute best of friends will suddenly disappear, whether for college or just as a part of growing up. It stinks and its messy but its a part of growing up. Adolescence to adulthood man — weird. But it teaches you patience, and it teaches you trust and it teaches you to appreciate the friends that stay a lot more.
Staying home when all your friends go off to college is difficult. Never in my life have I felt so insecure about placement. When I made the decision to stay home for a few months before doing missionary work, I’ve done a lot of the same cycle, work, sleep, and eat. Day to day was the same. I felt as if I was doing nothing that I was supposed to do, but in that moment God actually taught me a lot about placement, which is pretty ironic (He can be that way sometimes, can’t He). I’ve been reminded that being a kingdom bringer isn’t necessarily someone who preaches on a stage to a group of people who desire to be there. It can be as little as the way you speak to someone. By being kind, by loving others well, by just being there literally when you’re needed. Bringing someone to Christ doesn’t mean the ability to recite every verse in the bible (although that’d be crazy cool). It’s being available to the Lord, and asking, wanting, and allowing Him to do the rest. I’m incredibly blessed to live the life that I live. I adore all the people in my corner and will continue to shout His praises in the lowest valleys and on the highest mountain tops, for the people by my side and a million other reasons. He gives us each reason to praise. The little and the big, the easy and the hard. He does that for us!! Remind those that you love why you love them today & always be kind.
