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Hey guys! So I spent the past month visiting family as I prepare to leave for a year. I was able to hang with family I don’t see often. During this time I have had lots of meaningful conversations. The thing I seemed to be looking forward to the most was going back to Nashville to spend time with friends. Also, in Nashville I would be able to just be lazy and have a selfish week doing what I wanted to do. I mean I am leaving for a year for goodness sake… Well that was my thought process at least until my aunt snapped me out of that mode with just a few words. You see, I have a tendency to make conversations go deep. It’s not something I do on purpose, but I seem to turn a simple shallow sentence into a long, drawn out, thought provoking conversation. While driving from Chicago to St. Louis with my aunt, I told her I was excited to head to Branson, MO that day to see my grandparents and cousin, but I wasn’t sure if I would be present. I told her all I could think about was getting back to Nashville to hang with friends and figure out what I am going to do with all of my stuff (no I still haven’t figured it out… I am a procrastinator). Okay, so that was just a shallow sentence, but my aunt came back with this question: “What if God is asking you to give up that time to do something greater before you leave for the race?” Wow, that is tough to swallow. My thought process after that question was: I want to hang out with my friends… I am already giving up a year of my life. Then God had to remind me that He was thankful that I was giving up a year, but He didn’t ask for just a year, He asked for my LIFE, the rest of my LIFE. Seriously think about it, how often do we measure our work for the Lord? Or give it a time limit. I started thinking, gosh, if I had a song about my relationship with God right now, it would probably be Meat Loaf’s 1970’s song “I would do anything for love (but I won’t do that).” I don’t want that to be our relationship. It will not let that be our relationship. People keep asking what the next month of my life is going to look like and I don’t know. The only thing I know is, I am going to the Cayman Islands in August. A team of 6 of us are going with CEF to teach CYIA. Basically, we will teach the local teens how to share the gospel with the primary school kids. Besides that, I have no plans. I am going to do anything God tells me to do. Whether that is in Nashville, Mississippi, Chicago, or wherever, it’s not about what I want. I am so thankful my aunt reminded me of this important message last week. All of what God was teaching me through my aunt clicked during another jam session with Him on my drive from St. Louis to Branson. While spending that much alone time with God, He helped me analyze a lot of the conversations I had the previous week with my family. It was then I knew the things my aunt had told me were true. I need to be present wherever God takes me. I don’t need to be focusing on going back to hang out with friends. I need to be willing to give up my life even my friends if I have to. In my head, I use the excuse that my friends fuel me. But seriously, think about how wrong that is… He is supposed to fuel me, not them. So here I am standing with arms high and heart abandoned ready to be used by the One who gave it all up for me. If I get to spend time with friends, I will be so thankful that He has allowed me to do that…. If not, then okay, I will be thankful He is using me somewhere else. I am not sure what He is asking me to do right now. But WHAT IF He is asking me to give up these last few weeks I get with friends to serve Him. Am I willing to do that? Would you be willing to do that? What is something you aren’t willing to give up? Would you if He called you to give it up? It may sound like an easy answer “of course I would”, but really sit on it… journal about it… wrestle with the question. I know I am battling with that question and is not an easy question to answer. Anyways, y’all think on it and thanks for reading my blog. Thanks from the bottom of my heart to everyone who has supported me. If you haven’t supported me and would like to I would be honored to have you partner with me. I need prayer and lots of it. Also I would love to pray for you, so please don’t hesitate to message me with any requests. If you feel led to give financially, you can do so by clicking here. Also, I would love to have you all following along for the journey. If you want emailed when this page gets updated subscribe to this blog. This is the way I will keep everyone up to date. Love you all because I was first loved by Him 🙂 Liz And I will leave you with another song. |
