The Joy of Discipleship

I have been so encouraged to see the high school freshman girls in my small group grappling with the hard questions of life. It is such an exciting thing to see the girls really searching for truth and not being willing to settle for regurgitated 'Sunday school' answers. What a privilege to be able to come along side them and be ready to give an answer. The answer I would have given five years ago is so different from the answer I am able to give today. Today I desire to point the girls to the authority of the Word of God! I rejoice that the Scripture has become the authority for my life. I remember endless hours on phone calls to friends throughout my teens and twenties, asking advice from countless people and choosing to settle on the advice I most preferred, but the advice was rarely the kind that brings true freedom. The advice I most preferred was ego stroking and self-justifying and the quick fix. And then one day I met a woman that, when I sought her advice, she asked me "what does the Bible say about that?" Huh! Great question...not really a clue. What an illuminating moment to recognize that this book written more than 2,000 yrs. ago is RELEVANT for me today. Not just relevant generally, but so very specifically. It speaks into all areas of my life and shows me the right way, the free way, the best way, God's way. Jesus is the WAY! Anything else is sin. Bam! That just changes everything, now, doesn't it. And what joy it is to be able to share this truth with girls who are so much earlier in life's journey than I was in my own when I recognized I had been looking in all the wrong places for good advice. He pulled me up out of the miry clay and placed my feet on the Rock. Lord, help to do the same for others!

Friday Nights

It has occurred to me that life is FAST. Perhaps it is because I am fast approaching 34! My mid-30s...it really does sound horrific to me. Vanity some might say, or regret, or discontentment. The truth is all these may have some truth to them. A lot of my friends are having babies now, and I would love to have a family. But my station in life seems so far from that right now. It is Friday night and I am sitting in the home I rent with my two roommates. I don't like to do much on Friday nights but hybrinate at home. Not such an exciting life, but a good one all the same. And where are my eyes right now? On ME. But I have a Savior and Lord who calls me to fix my eyes on Him! What a sweet escape from self-pity and narcissistic tendencies and melancholy Fridays. The Lord is my joy, my strength, my peace. Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. He is my Life and I desire to serve Him with all of my life. Scripture tells us that "whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it" (Luke 9:24). It does not matter how fast this life is going or how old I am getting, what matters most is that I am following Christ and being transformed more into His image!!! One day soon I will be home!