Beauty Unveiled: "...It matters and so do you"

“The place that God calls us is that place where the world’s deep hunger and our desires meet.”
-Fredrick Buechner-

I love this quote! I am someone who is passionate about passions. (This quote says “desires,” but I’m going to go ahead and say that passions and desires might be interchangeable here.) When I hear people talk about things that get them fired up, it fires me up! I feel like passions are a precious gift from God. God asks us to love and serve Him, but he doesn’t want it to be a chore. He is a loving God who wants us to enjoy loving and serving Him. This is why I think passions are such a gift. There is need all over the world. So when people wonder what their calling is, or what they are supposed to do with their lives, to me, it seems less complicated than some make it out to be. What are your passions/desires, and where in the world could you best use that to further advance God’s Kingdom?

Now, I’m not trying to minimize the stress of hard decisions. Sometimes it isn’t super obvious. Some people have yet to discover their passion, and others may have obstacles standing in their way of living them out. But don’t forget that God is loving, and I think he is right by your side anxiously waiting for you to be able to do what you love to do for him. God delights in us when we experience joy doing what he created us to do, and I firmly believe that we will be most joyful when we are doing what we love and feel passionately for. Just a thought. :]

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Since my last post, not much has changed regarding my apartment, job duties, financial situation, or friend count ;) I did get to upload pictures of my apartment though, so hopefully you’ll get a better idea of what my place looks like now! Also, while I have not made any new bosom friends in the past week, I feel as if God has really been strengthening the relationships that I already have. I do have one “soul sister” here, and she is such a blessing to me! I literally could not stop thanking God for her last night. This woman is my boss, Amanda Relph. She and I connect like we have known each other for years. We are able to be honest and open with one another on such a deep level, and we are also able to be certifiably weird and crazy. We laugh so much! Seriously, she shows me God’s love and goodness because she is so loving and good to me, and because God is so loving and good to put her in my life. :]

One of my prayer requests was to be more intentional in keeping up with friends, and because I have had so much time recently, I am constantly thinking of who I can call and catch up with! It is starting to become more natural for me, and I pretty much never thought I would say that. So praise the Lord! Also, I want to say a huge thank you to the friends who have continued to seek me out and pursue me. I am so thankful for you. Gosh, it just blows my mind the way that people can make you feel so loved. Please continue to pray that when my schedule gets busier, I would remain a faithful, constant, and reliable friend.

Now, a huge theme for me this week has been, show yourself grace. I’m so hard on myself. So many people are. But what I’m realizing is that I struggle so much with being real about my feelings because I don’t want it to seem as if I am trusting God any less. For example, I do not like the fact that I am too broke to decorate my apartment. I also kind of hate that I live 45 minutes away from Eric and we’ll be too busy to see each other very often. And when I am honest about it, I feel as if I’m a heathen because I’m not content. I want to be content. I want It to have faith that this situation is perfect because God knows what is best for me. And deep down, I do know that everything is going to be alright. But, that doesn’t change the fact that I just don’t like it very much. I guess it seems kind of silly, but this really affects me. I try to “keep it together”. I avoid crying. I convince people that I’m alright when I’m really not. Clearly, it is hard for me to be vulnerable. I see now, that this isn’t what Jesus would do. Isaiah 53:3 says that Jesus was a man of sorrow, well acquainted with grief. So, no, it isn’t sinful for me to be honest and acknowledge sadness and discontent.So, praise God for the friends who have told me to show myself grace this week (you know who you are!).

In Captivating, these quotes really hit me hard,

“We need not be ashamed that our hearts ache; that we need and thirst and hunger for much more. All of our hearts ache… It is our insatiable need for more that drives us to our God.”

“Grief validates… it matters and so do you.”

Amen to that! May I learn to not be ashamed of heart ache or discontentment, but instead, be driven to God through it.

Apartment photos...