A Week in LA.

-
As heartbroken as I feel when the Lord ends my time with different serve opportunities, I am always grateful that by closing one door, it enables Him to open another.  Last Saturday, He finished my week-long adventure with our youth group in LA.  During that week, He melted my heart.




I love the inner-city.  I love learning about peoples' lives.  I love that preparation for the day meant I woke up before the group to sit with the Lord, instead of doing makeup or picking out an outfit.  I love smiling at people I don't know, trying to convey to them in a three-second exchange that they are beautiful, valuable.  I love dancing on street corners to Tupac with my sisters in Christ.  I love being open and vulnerable with people, letting the Lord use my life story to share His grace and love with others.  I love leading my middle schoolers and high schoolers, even with the momentary heart attacks when I count only 9 instead of 10.  I love hearing their perspectives, processing their experiences with them, and praying with them.  I love how their laughter reminds me to not be in a hurry to grow up.  I love worshiping alongside them, praising God for our days.  I love that multiple twentysomethings came from all over the U.S. to invest in LA for the summer.  I love learning about their hearts for the Lord and the journeys He has them on.  I love the partnerships created between the organization we worked with and those within the community.  I love that the Lord redeems brokenness and turns it into beauty.

Father, never let me forget.  Father, let me always be grateful.  Father, be honored.

♥

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Take My Worlds Apart.

-
Image
One of the most beautiful cries out to the Lord that I have heard, and the prayers of my heart if they were a song. "...more and more I need You now , I owe You more each passing hour, the battle between grace and pride I gave up not so long ago So steal my heart and take the pain and wash the feet and cleanse my pride take the selfish , take the weak, and all the things I cannot hide take the beauty, take my tears, the sin-soaked heart and make it Yours take my world all apart take it now, take it now..." "Worlds Apart" - Jars of Clay ♥
Read more

{Psalm 8}

-
What is man that You remember him, the son of man that You look after him? You made him little less than God and crowned him with glory and honor. Psalm 8:4-5  Oh my heart.  Sometimes, I am just straight up baffled at why the Lord desires to know me and use me and bless me and love me, because I just don't seem lovable enough.  But then I am grateful, because unworthiness the platform for grace .  So then, in my ugliness and chaos, I am in the perfect place to accept God's love.  Which is beautiful , because that's usually when I need love the most. I will always be grateful for this season of life.  It is definitely not where I imagined myself now, and it is definitely not how I would have planned it for myself, but it is so beautiful.  So desperately , perfectly beautiful, in a very countercultural way.  You see, I thought I'd be married right now.  I never set many career goals.  I never had any financial plans.  I ju...
Read more

I Hear a Voice, and He Calls Me 'Redeemed'

-
These past two weeks have been an absolute roller coaster.  I have become extra familiar with the third floor of the old building at the hospital (and pretty much every other floor).  The change in my appetite has thrown me for a loop, and my cup of grace is dwindling.  My supply of tears has somehow grown and has spilled over more times than I would have imagined possible.  Today I finally recognized some of the lies that the enemy has been trying to tell me, and I want nothing more than to renounce them.  Rather than writing the lies I've battled this week, I'm writing the truths God tells me instead. I am strong . Where I am weak, God is glorified ; my weaknesses are never in vain, Satan cannot capitalize on them if I lay them at Jesus' feet. My life doesn't have to be in perfect order before I am qualified to help people. It is okay to cry in the middle of a church service (and not everyone is looking). I am not alone. I am called out, I ...
Read more