Places.
People.
Passions.
Those are the last three threads weaving together in our study through Restless. I have to admit, while this whole book has been challenging, these three chapters hit me hard. I have struggled a lot around those three threads. And realized I have a whole lot of hurt, anger, and disappointment welled up inside. Some of it I can see God using to paint my story and some of it I can see Satan using to destroy me and cloud God’s glory.
Places.
For a long time, I wanted to move to Africa. Sell everything and live somewhere on a continent I fell in love with at a very early age. As I grew older and started traveling, I realized living overseas was not my calling. In fact, without Skype I am sure I would have self-destructed in Saipan. I know God gives grace to handle His calling on your life, but I became more and more convinced God was calling me to mobilize those around me and be a force at home. I had seen poverty and experienced hopelessness and I wanted to share my experiences with my friends and peers who had so much to offer. Ironically in all of this, the one place I did not want to go was back to southern Indiana. And yet, as we approached the Places chapter is restless, this was exactly where I found myself. Married, settled, and in southern Indiana for the foreseeable future. This is my Africa. My heart still beats passionately for Swaziland and someday I will go back, but today God has planted me here. And I plan to invest and dream and pursue my passions here to the fullest extent.
People.
For the record, I love Jennie Allen. And I love how blunt she is. She called her readers on the carpet in this chapter for piddling in our relationships.
Piddle- to spend time in a wasteful, trifling, or ineffective way
We looked at the people in our lives and narrowed them down to people we need and people who need us. As Jennie put it, “find your people and invest in them.” I sent a text to one of my dear friends who is in the study with me and said, “you are one of my people.” I need her. The thing about it is, those people may hurt you. They may disappoint you. And in those times, we are to fight even harder for them. As I looked over my list, I saw a group of people, some of whom had only been in my life a short time, and almost all of whom were connected to my place. I smiled at the perfection of God’s plan. Coming back to the place I once dreaded has filled my life with a group of people I desperately need and a group of people God has called me to love. Far from perfect, they are daily challenging me to grown in my faith and dependence on God and enriching my lives in a 1,000 ways.
Passions
What are you passionate about? What makes you angry? What gets you excited? I know beyond a shadow of doubt I have a passion for women, for dignity, for freedom, and for organization (random I know). As we continued to tie our threads together, I could see how each of my passions sprung from deep hurts and moments of pure bliss in my life. Some of my passions flow from strengths I believe God has given me and some of them flow from experiences I have had. All of them perfectly fit with the people and places in my life.
The past semester has boiled down my life to one page of threads. One beautiful story. Gifts, moments, people, places, passions. Woven together by the Creator. I am bursting with excitement and trepidation over what is next and determined to take the pieces of my life that feel disconnected and lay them at the feet of Jesus. He is weaving together a story and a vision I cannot wait to share with you.
Until then, take some time to think about the people and places in your life.
Are you piddling in relationships or are you committed to your people?
Have you found your Africa? Is it here or there? Do you need to more fully invest or divest and move forward?
What are you passionate about? Why?
