Coffee & Honeycomb: reflection

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

I know we're already a week into October, but September was such a great month I wanted to take a beat and reflect. :)

HIGHLIGHTS:
- I started my full-time job. So far? It is really, really great. And I'm extremely thankful I can say that with complete honesty. The culture is fun and the people on my team are bright, and I come home at night still with energy and enthusiasm to return the next day. It's hard being the "new girl," and to be totally honest, this new role is completely different from my past experiences so I am coming in with zero expertise; which isn't fun to not know how to do your job, but if there was a place to walk in new, this is the place to do it. (I'll update more about this later.)

- I'm checking out churches. E and I committed to church hopping until end of November, and it's been one verrry interesting process. Again, I've never looked for a church before, let alone been a visitor at a church before, so this is all foreign territory to me. Five weeks in and eight churches visited, and it has been one heck of a roller coaster. There's been phases of discouragement, doubts if we'll ever find a good church, homesickness for our old home church, etc. But also phases of hope, unique opportunity to worship alongside brothers/sisters we'd probably never witness otherwise, seeing a wide spectrum of church communities, and then once in awhile entering a church where you know God's blessing is present. Interestingly, MN has a TON of churches! Many, many mega-churches... I don't know if this is unique to MN or more on my radar just cause I'm looking, but there are so many mega-churches. I've been in more mega-churches this month than I have in my entire late! I definitely notice my guard go up with mega-churches and I need to be more discerning with that, but it has been cool to worship in super nice facilities/praise teams/etc. Anyway, as of late, there's a few I really enjoy so far and I'm eager to join a small group and be in a community again. :)

- I'm enjoying fall. All those fall things girls love. Apple orchards. Pumpkin spice latte. Flavored candles. Scarves and sweaters. You name it! I am totally embracing this season with open arms.

- I'm making new friends. While trying to refrain from sounding like a third-grader who made friends at lunch by trading their apples for chips or on the school playground, but hey, when you move to a new city you gotta make new friends and put yourself out there. You know me, I'm all about the story-sharing, memory-making and right adjacent to the spitting in your hand and making a secret handshake kinda thing, so I like making new friends. There's a bunch of 20-something transplants, so I'm definitely not alone in this process. What's great about being in a new city and making new friends is that you do activities that you probably never would have done before. Ex: my girlfriends and I call a great night one spent on the couch, and we visit the same spots for dinner. However lately, I've tried boat riding, kayaking, hiking, and apple picking. :) Just to name a few... I guess you can call me your adventure queen. (Clearly I didn't get funnier moving to a new state.)

YOU MAY HAVE MISSED:
venturing from starbucks
celebrating our three year
lakeside
apartment tour

And take out all my life lately posts here!

Saturday, July 19, 2014

It's been three days since I've been home, and each day has looked a little different so far. I don't feel that busy but somehow time is moving by so fast. (It probably doesn't help that I'm sleeping through large chunks of the day, too. lolz)

I stopped at one point today to ask myself, "I wonder what 'post-missions' will look like on day 10. Will I just have compromised in more areas? Will I love God more or less? Will I even still be talking about Japan?" And it made me wonder what this time of "post-missions" really even is. I don't know, but I know what I don't want it to be.

I don't want it to be where I'm always walking one step toward sin, and one step further from a pure life in Japan. I don't want to believe that Japan was the best of times, and each day is just anticipating lukewarm faith... And I don't think God wants that either. I want to believe that God is still working. He is infinite; He didn't exhaust his blessings or promises in one month. He is generous; He is always waiting to pour out to His children. He is big; He surpasses time and place and doesn't stop based on time-zone. I'm praying, for myself and for my teammates, that we will not be content with daily 30-minute QTs and old blessings, but that God will continue to reveal Himself to us this summer in even bigger, more intimate, and more exciting ways! God doesn't just save souls or answer prayers in Japan, but here, too.

One thing God taught me in Japan was that every choice I made was significant. During prayer time, I could choose to fall asleep or fight to pray. I could choose to seek peoples' approvals or seek God's. I could choose to pretend I am strong or admit I am weak. I could choose to believe in works or believe in grace... Every choice mattered because in the end, I think it always just boiled down to the same one: myself or Jesus.

I love that the lessons and blessings I received in Japan still have ripple effects now, because today, I was reminded of that same lesson. As I tried to imagine day 10, I thought, "man, if this is the rate I am going, day 10 just doesn't look so good for me..." That fear led me to dissect and evaluate why. If I intend to do well, why can't that sustain me? And I realized, that good intentions are not enough; because life is not an accumulation of intentions we have, but the choices we make and actions we take.

Today..
I intended to write my testimony, but I didn't.
I intended to clean my room, but I didn't.
I intended to wake up early, but I didn't.

I had all of these great intentions, but in the end, I go to bed tonight with an unwritten testimony, a messy room, and a poor sleep schedule. It is not enough to have good intentions, I must choose to act.

And I think that — small choices and actions — will make the world of a difference from now until day 10. I think that will make a world of a difference to experiencing more of God and not experiencing Him. I cannot just intend to have a deeper relationship with God, I must meet Him daily in prayer and in the word, I must be willing to sacrifice and obey. And I think that's the difference between home and missions sometimes, that we choose to do our devotional. There is no magic spell or formula, it's an accumulation of choices made. (Plus a wholeeee lotttaa prayer, but das a different story.)

Coffee & Honeycomb

Pages

LIFE LATELY: WRAPPING UP SEPTEMBER

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

JAPAN REFLECTIONS: CHOOSING JESUS.

Saturday, July 19, 2014