Dear Richelle,
You have just come back from the wildest year of your life, and I hope you are ready for only wilder days, months, and years to come. And first things first, welcome home. I’m sure a floodgate of emotions have been coming out, but don’t worry. God’s not worried. Relax. Take time to soak in the past year of your life, and take time to soak in the fact that you are home. And not only are you home, but you are different.
The young girl who left the comforts of her home 11 months ago is not the same person as the young woman who has now come back home. And I know you feel it, too.
If you ever start to forget all the ways you have been changed and refined by fire in this past year, if you ever start to feel “normal” again as you navigate your way through the reentry process at home, and if you ever feel the temptation of reverting back to who you once were, let me remind you of who you are, of who you always will be. Because no matter how many times you go astray, no matter how many times you doubt yourself or the Lord, no matter how far you find yourself falling away from the glory of grace, you are permanently the Father’s daughter, and these things will always be who you are at the core of you. These things will never change.
So, you know who you are? Let me tell you.
1. You are the joy of the Lord. Tangibly, truly, and completely a walking, breathing, living, loving human being and daughter of true joy because of the Spirit inside of you. In this past year, you have found that the joy of the Lord ceaselessly marinates in every fiber of your body and that this joy He has instilled in you is steadfast. It is immovable. And often times, it is contagious. Not only is this joy your inheritance, but YOU finally recognizing and claiming this inheritance of His joy inside of you has increased your confidence in the Lord tremendously.
2. You are an exhorter. You are a young woman who speaks out what the Lord speaks to her. Public speaking scares the hell out of you, but when you allow yourself to be a vessel who walks in obedience and who speaks boldly when the Spirit leads, you become a violent threat to the darkness. In Moldova, you read Exodus 30:17 and your life was changed. The way you view your relationship with the Lord reached even greater heights. The simple words of “and the Lord spoke to Moses,” changed you completely and made you much more aware of the words that the Lord speaks to you in everyday life. And, to tell you the truth, the enemy hates when you speak out the words that the Spirit gives you because they are truths that people need to hear, that you need to hear. The enemy hates when your body literally starts shaking and quivering whenever the Spirit is filling you with words to use for encouragement or even for rebuke. The enemy doesn’t want you to speak. The enemy wants to silence whatever the Spirit gives to you by using deceiving weapons of fear and insecurity. But never stop sitting and listening to the Lord. Never stop speaking whenever the Lord tells you to. Whenever you sit and listen to the Lord, the enemy cringes. Whenever you choose to stand up and share what the Lord has been speaking to you, darkness shakes. And you know what? I have seen you vulnerable and I have heard you speak with undeniable conviction because of He who dwells inside you. The best part about it all? None of this is you. The Lord has permanently made you into a young woman who isn’t afraid to speak out for the kingdom of God. The only fear you need to carry with you is a fear of the Lord, and let this reverence continue to carry through and speak loudly to the multitudes, even with little to no words.
3. You are an encourager. You are a young woman who comes alongside people and lavishes them with the intense love that you possess because of His miraculous love inside of you. Throughout your entire Race, and perhaps throughout your entire life, both love and joy have been spoken over you. Love and joy. Not only are you a young woman who dances through life in the fullness of joy, but you are also a young woman who invites others to dance with her because of the intense love that you possess for life, for people around you, and ultimately, for your Maker. And remember, do not ever let bitterness ever find a seat in your heart. Do not ever leave any window open for pride to come in and play. You are such a loving creature because of the way you continually experience the love of Christ in your everyday life. Continue to use His love instilled inside of you to come alongside people, to encourage those around you, and to show others that the love of Christ makes everything worth it, makes everything beautiful. His love inside you has made you the encourager that you are today. You were made in a way that calls you to be with the people and to love them even when it hurts. You have found that love always wins, and your desire to walk through your days in the love of God has made you an incredible encourager for the kingdom.
4. You are absolutely, positively, completely.. free. This past year, you have finally found and felt what it means to come alive in the freedom that you have in Jesus Christ. And the Lord was only starting this process with you in Nepal. You grew up learning about freedom, you grew up knowing about freedom. Heck, you even sang songs in church for over 20 years about freedom and victory in Jesus. But now you really know. You not only taste it, but you feast on it and you swim in it everyday of your life. You have finally come to a place where you know that you are not your lusts, you are not your failures, you are not your struggles, you are not your mistakes. You are a wild and living daughter of the Lord who lives in freedom from anything and everything that once held you down and away from who you are. And who are you? You are free. So, never stop living free. Never stop dancing in grocery aisles. Never stop singing silly songs at the top of your lungs. Never stop eating ribs and getting sauce all over your face and hands. Never stop proclaiming the gospel even in the most casual, mundane conversations. Never stop praying for miracles. Never stop laughing until your stomach hurts, and never stop driving with your windows down and your volume turned all the way up. Because you are free, and whenever you sing of this freedom, the heavenlies sing too.
And before I go on and on, let me remind you of one last thing…
5. You are not only joyful, but you are triumphant. You and I both know that the Lord has been giving you those two words for a long time now. Joyful and triumphant. You are a young woman who walks in a new kind of confidence because you know that you are both joyful and triumphant. You have claimed it, and it is so beautiful. By the grace of God, you understand grace in a new way. You have learned more of what it looks like to trust grace. And this grace has made you more sure, it has made you more confident. And this confidence in the Lord that you have claimed makes you go forward in triumphal procession even when you fall. Remember that one time in South Africa when you came across Colossians 2:15? Yeah, that verse also changed you forever. The Lord used that verse to shape the way you view spiritual warfare and what it means to be joyful and triumphant. “He disarmed the the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, triumphing over them in Jesus Christ.” You are a woman who strives to live out this verse each and every single day. You go forward with a joyful confidence because you finally understand that you were not made for failure, but you were made for victory.
So, kick of your shoes and grab yourself a bowl of cold, sweet watermelon.
Because you and I both know that this is only the beginning.
You know who you are in the Lord, and you simply can’t shake off the fact that God has completely changed you.
He delights in you so much, and I cannot wait to see what adventures He has lined up for you next.
Welcome home.
Love,
Richelle
