As I’m writing this, the Holy Spirit was encouraging me to speak about the things in my life where He wants me to move in and ultimately take steps towards. When I was journaling, a question that popped up was, “What was difficult this month? Why?” The first thing that came to mind was my team. The second thing that came to mind is realizing how much I struggle with perseverance and relying on the Lord, with everything. Honestly, new team dynamics are rough. Especially coming from a co-ed team to an all girl’s team. When I look at Team Reliance, we are a powerhouse. All of us encompass boldness, we have all been in tough places in our pasts and we’ve seen the Lord work within us in redemptive ways through our stories and continue to do so. It’s a beautiful thing, it really is, but some days, I feel really weak with this team. Some days, I feel like I overanalyze all of the things that I feel like I’m doing wrong and need to grow into or step into or even step out of. The list goes on.
WE all have choices to make
We can question why. We can cry and miss our families and best friends and wish that we were back with our old teams or people that we think would be better fits for us. We can look at other teams and see through social media how awesome their month has been, and how they seem to be bonding so well and thriving within their new dynamics. We can sit and stew in our pots of jealously and comparison. We can keep talking about how much prettier she is, or how good she is at this or how much better she is at that. We can choose the victim circle of counting down the days until team changes come back around, hoping and praying that things will be better next time.
God ALWAYS places certain people in our lives for a reason
ALWAYS
Each of these women have something to bring to the table. Something insightful, wise and beautiful. They each encompass something that Jesus gifted them with, that I can learn from and they from me.
We can choose freedom. We can choose to be joyful during this season. We can choose to celebrate our teammates. We can choose to love them for who they are, not for who we want them to be. We can choose to rejoice with them. We can choose to look at the beautiful things about our team. We can choose to see our team the way Jesus does. Taking risks, trusting in God, not holding back the love, just straight up doing it.
Kathleen // our fearless team leader. She is one of the most intentional people I’ve ever known. She loves getting to know us, by asking us the hard questions and not settling for a simple answer. She wants the real answers. I’m learning so much from her. Her smile can easily lighten up anyone’s mood and she laughs out loud so heartily. She leads us by example and I love chatting with her over coffee while going through the book of Hosea together.
Alleigh // Everything about Alleigh is moving forward. She has grown so much since I first met her. Her spirit for adventure and trying new things and living in the moment is something to strive for. I can always count on her to jump in and not hold back. To say YES to the bold things. When someone is telling a story, she listens, I mean really listens and looks at you like you are the most important person in the room.
Katy // She is easily the most independent person on our squad. One could possibly identify her as a lone wolf and she’s happy with it. However, she is also one of the most supportive and dedicated people on our team. If you need a real and honest answer, go to Katy. She is super talented in the sketch world and her drawings are on point. I love getting to know her, and watching her step into the woman that God has created her to be.
Lindsey // kind and sweet Lindsey. This girl loves sugar more than anyone I know. If anyone needs something sweet, I’m sure she’s got it. She has such a huge heart and is always making sure that everyone is not just okay, but happy. If they’re not, she’s gonna try to hard to get you there. I was able to share a classroom with her this month and she would doubt herself so much at the beginning of the month. On our last week of class, she was up there teaching the kids like a pro. They were listening and responding to all that she was saying. She’s carrying so much boldness and it’s been great to see her stepping into it more.
Kelly // First of all, let me just say that I look forward to dinner almost every night because Kelly’s cooking is FIRE. It’s so, so good! Our entire team would agree. Kelly takes care of us so well and wants the best for everyone. She is so great at opening up opportunities for us to be vulnerable with each other and challenge one another too. Her heart for children this month was shown so much through the way that she loved the kids at this school. She was definitely in her element and I loved seeing her so happy with those kids.
So that’s what I’m going to do. I’m choosing to love my team and speak highly of them. I’m choosing to celebrate their victories. I’m choosing to celebrate the way that God created them. I’m choosing to celebrate not the many things we have in common, but the few, and being thankful for that. We’re not perfect, we don’t always walk in the light. We definitely don’t agree with all of the decisions that we make. We come from different parts of the States, but at the end of the day, we remember that we really can laugh together. We can have fun and be intentional with getting to know each other. We can agree on lots of things. We can rely on Jesus together and each other. We can keep each other accountable. We can embrace the hard talks and hard times because we’re not alone in this. We are God’s chosen people and because of that, we choose to love each other and help each other step into the women that God is calling us to be. We are called to love, the good, the bad, and even the ugly; and because of that, I’m choosing to love Team Reliance.
-B
