I don't feel qualified to write this blog, but it has been on heart and sitting in my journal for a couple weeks now, I have had a million different versions swirling through my head. But the spirit is still laying it on my heart. So here it goes.
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Loving is something we choose, but it comes with more than just the happily ever afters. The Cost of Loving is played out in so many stories like Romeo and Juliet, there has to be sacrifice.It comes with heartache, as human beings we mess up, get mad, and fail. The ultimate story is God giving his one and only son to just Die on the cross because he Loved us so much.
Burdens, are apart of daily life they include light ones like what to wear today, burden, cook for a meal. Others are heavy what major to pick, whether to go off to college, sickness, credit card debt, ext.
One of the biggest burdens in life come to those who are brave enough to have kids. Yes, we are burdens parents. John 16 tells us, "In this world you will have trouble, but take heart because I have overcome the world." Trouble or tribulations or burdens, they all boil down to the same thing, hardships. Seriously I have the up most respect for people who take this burden on, I mean you are signing on for 18+ years of raising someone else. That takes guts, that takes courage.
Taking on the responsibility of bringing a child into this world, you are taking on so much more than the laughs, smiles, and happily ever afters. You instead are signing on for a roller coaster of I love you, I hate you, getting puked on, woken up all hours of the night, being yelled at, and constantly being burdened with whether you choose to fight the right battle. You learn to love your children through their faults no matter what they may do, or use against you, which can cut deep.
You rejoice and grieve as your child moves the stages of life, eventually you learn how to let them spread their wings and fly. Fly into society that is filled with expectations of what paths young adults should be on. Graduate from highschool, go to college, get degree, go off and start working.
While this works for many it isn't for everyone. It's like making sugar cookies at Christmas time and being told your only allowed to use one cookie cutter.
What's the fun in that? Who wants to frost 2 dozen+ cookies that are exactly the same cut out? That gets boring fast.
The world would never be able to function like that, because than all we would have is engineers, so stuff would get built, but probably not communicated very thoroughly, or all we would have would be teachers and no one willing to learn. I think you get my point, we are made uniquely on purpose, we aren't all suppose to fit into that one cookie cookie cutter.
The world race certainly doesn't fit into the cookie cutters society has created for young adults. Be quick to listen and slow to speak, the organization does face criticism because it's kind of like making an easter bunny, when you are doing Christmas cookies. But that doesn't mean it is out to get everything. AIM empowers young adults to go deeper with their faith, to live out a life of intentionality in which they choose joy, live in the moment, and grow in ways you can't by choosing the easy cut out path. But life is meant to be lived out seizing the day, taking it in and not always being comfortable.
Deciding to do this takes a lot of discernment from your young adult, it is not easy to make the conscious decision to leave behind what you know, people who love you, and the life that you know you can do.
Somewhere down inside us we know that this is a burden to you, that it will be hard on you. You can't just call us up this coming year, we will be far out of your reach, that you will worry about us every single moment we are gone, but rejoice like never before when we finally return (much like the prodigal son story in the bible). You will be the one who will actually read every blog we write no matter how awful it maybe. We will face many trials that you cannot not sweep in on your white horse to fix, but we will have to grow and learn to do it instead.
Ask God to grant you peace, peace in the fact that he will take care of us in this journey, that he has prepared each of us specifically for something on this opportunity.
Know we would never want to disappoint you, and that as we've been preparing for this journey we have experienced as much second guessing, excitement, anxiousness as we try and grasp leaving for a 11 months. Rest in peace, God is in charge, and he loves us no matter how many times we screw up, he still chooses you, to LOVE YOU.
