ForeverLOVEd

Dear You,  LEAN IN.  'The past is no longer yours; the future is not yet in your power. You have only the present wherein to do good.' St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori When I was in the fourth grade, my heart ached. I had drove to the drug store with my mom and noticed a man sitting all alone on the curb. He looked defeated. His clothes looked old and worn. His hands were covered in dirt. He held a sign asking for help. And for me, he was my first real encounter with homelessness.  That year for an art submission, I drew a picture of this man. And all my life that encounter has remained with me. My heart ached because I saw in that man a struggle, a struggle I felt so unable to help.  To this day, I see these people. Maybe the homeless, maybe the lonely, and maybe the scared. And you see the double edged sword is this, I see them, but my heart hurts as I walk away so distracted by my life that I do not have time, or talent, or treasure to change their situation...

Dear Driven, "Do not forget the LORD, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery; who guided you through the vast and terrible desert with its saraph serpents and scorpions, its parched and waterless ground;who brought forth water for you from the flinty rock and fed you in the desert with manna,a food unknown to your fathers." Deuteronomy 8:14-16   I am never allowed to drive. Even as an adult woman, my dad never considered my ability good enough to put the pedal to the metal. Road trips, therefore, were a time for me to sit in the back seat, coke in the cup holder and book in my hand. But this year, my brother wouldn't be along to share in the driving with my dad. And this year, I was not willing to be made a mere passenger. This year I would drive.  The morning we left, I helped load the car. Somewhere along the road I became an adult. My stuff was ready to go! And I was wide awake, so I volunteered insistently to drive the first le...

Dear Elliott,  No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. 1 Corinthians 10:13 One time someone told me, "Forgiveness is key." Key to what? Well, quite frankly it's key to so many things. Forgiveness may be the key to happiness. Or the key to moving on from the past, a door to the future. Forgiveness is key in relationships. Key in communication. The key to living out faith. It is a concrete existence of mercy and of love.  So why is it so hard to grasp this key? Why is it so hard to forgive?  I woke up to a text from my friend. The link was to a video. "Did you see the news about this nightmare?", she asked!  I had not even turned on the news or scrolled through my social media posts yet. I started watching and my stomach began to ache. With the heaviest of heart and th...

Dear Thief, A tranquil heart is the life of the flesh; But envy is the rottenness of the bones. Proverbs 14:30 Comparison is the thief of joy.   Yet, everyday I wake up and think to myself, if only I was as skinny as her, or as smart as him. If only I were more funny like him, or pretty like that girl. And I walk through my day letting comparison be the thief. Jealousy starts stealing my happiness. Envy begins to destroy my bliss. Sin starts to break into my being. My desire to be as gifted, fabulous, beautiful, or loved as someone else slowly starts to suck out the life God created within me.  The truth is, I know I should not compare myself. I know God created us each to be perfectly who He intended. I know each of our journeys are uniquely our walk with Him. Yet, my mind keeps telling me, if only. And my heart keeps longing for that adventure or journey someone else is on. And my eyes keep seeing that someone else has more; more beauty, more money, more excitement in t...

Dear Life in Ruins,  " Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies" John 11:25 They say, "Be careful what you wish for," and as someone, who is herself all around way too careful, I have made my wishes as such. But, when you start making plans you never stop to consider what God may have to show you as a result. It was never our wish really, we did not even comprehend all it could mean, and we certainly did not expect what it would produce, but somewhere along the way God placed on our hearts a retreat weekend based on the theme, "Let the ruins come to life."  When we picked this theme, last fall, we never saw how God would build it into so much of our lives this spring. And maybe we chose the theme after thoughtful consideration as to what God wanted, or maybe God picked the theme for us most certainly from the beginning, but either way it goes, chicken then egg or egg then chicken, that th...

Dear Frozen Heart,  "And so we know and rely on the love God has for us." 1 John 4:16 Stop for a second and consider what it means to be frozen. We freeze food to preserve it, put frozen water or packs of peas on injuries to cut down the swelling, and if you ever heard your mom or dad yell "Freeze" at the end of the sidewalk, you knew it meant to stop dead in your tracks. With the weather on the East Coast dropping buckets of snow and the hit movie by this title stealing box office attention, perhaps my mind began to remember what it means to be frozen.  The movie had been in the theaters for months, and I still had not made my way to see it. But after days of hearing the girls belt the songs on the yard and watching the boys light up at the mention of its' name, I knew there was something different about this princess movie. Something was alive inside as the kids talked about the story. Something excited my heart as I listened to the soundtrack. Something s...

Dear Daughter,  This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil. Hebrews 6:19 Somewhere along the road to blogging my life, it occurred to me that these words have the potential to remain forever. In and out of weeks, and months, I compiled stories and lessons I had learned along the way. While I did not realize it from the start, I began to hope that these blogs would one day serve as love letters to my future children, more specifically a future daughter!  So perhaps one day my sweet young daughter will read this. Perhaps one day she will see these words on a page and know they were meant for her. And perhaps, maybe today you will read these same words, and perhaps you will know these words were meant for you, the daughter of a KING!  At 27, I feel both old and young. I have learned a lot. Yet, I have so much more to learn. I have grown a lot. Yet, there is so much more growing to do. I have experienced the...