*Part Two of Captured by Grace is on it’s way in God’s time. Just a sneak preview of how this is already unfolding: Melly was reading the back of the book. The author of the book is a pastor of a church a mere fifteen miles from where we live. I guess I know a place I need to visit. But, more on that another day.*
As an INFJ, I am as rare as they come, at under 1-3% of the population.
So. the chances of you running into an INFJ woman are about 1 in 100.
And you’ll know it because she’ll be the most relational person imaginable.
Something about INFJ’s and something about women–we define ourselves by our relationships, by the people who are in our lives. We do this more than your average ESTP male.
So tonight, Melly (my fellow INFJ woman) and I were sitting at our dinner table discussing the people in our lives per usual, and God used her as a vessel of revelation to reveal yet another monumental reason He is taking me on this journey outside of everything I know.
I am a daughter to my parents, so much so that I run every ounce of my life by them. 
I am a sister to Erika, so much so that we have our own language. 
I am a very intentional friend–so much so that I can scarcely make it through a weekend without thoroughly planning out the next time I’ll see a friend. 
In fact, I am so relational that if you want to know where someone is, what their life is like, what anyone else is doing–I’m the best second hand source. Not gossipy (anymore). But still always have tabs on where people are…and where I am relative to them.
I can’t tell a story without prefacing everyone involved in it.
If you ask me about any age in my life, I will tell you about the defining friendships, the quality of relationships, and the familial atmosphere before I’ll even think to mention what grade I was in. My relationship to others has defined my existence for twenty-two years.
My identity shifts based on whatever role I am filling at a given moment.
In moving to California, I thought I’d break away a little bit from all my familial roles. But instead, I became even closer to both parents, and by the end of three years, my big sister had moved to LA too.
In moving to San Diego, I thought I’d put emotional space between my defining friends and I. Instead, I have spent almost every single weekend in Los Angeles for nearly two months.
But at night in a tent in a remote village on the Amazon in Ecuador–things are going to be a little different. I am not going to be able to curl up safely in Mommy’s lap after a long day. I am not going to be able to pick Daddy’s brain for the best way to accommodate our budget. I am not going to be able to edit Madison’s brilliant papers. I am not going to be able to spout You’ve Got Mail quotes back and forth with Suzie and Emily. I am not going to be able to BBM in the Chid renguij (sister language). I am not going to be able to poke fun at Toby Bear’s pillsbury dough boy laugh.
All of the people who define me will be gone.
And I will fight for awhile.
But then. I will surrender.
and finally, truly learn who I am.
Who God has created me to be.
I’m going to learn what it means to be a daughter of the King.
Oh yes. This very relational girl is about to dive head first into the one defining relationship that outlasts and outweighs all others.
It’s go time.
