Transition

I've become convinced that in the blog world time moves at a much faster rate than in the real world. It feels almost unnecessary to comment on the fact that it is somehow late May and once again the space between my last post and this one is far greater than I would have hoped, so maybe this is just my new normal. Yeah, we're gonna go with that- a new normal.

So, transition. What a crazy concept. Change, movement, different, forward. These are things that can be welcomed or very much resisted. When the transition is good, we often look forward to it with much anticipation. When it's not so good, we tend to dig in our heels and want to stay put. But no matter what, transition is hard. It takes work and is usually outside of our comfort zone. 

I'm undergoing quite a bit of transition right now. With living in a different city (living in a city, for that matter), experiencing apartment life for the first time, being done with full time ministry and moving on to 9-5 kind of work, being engaged and living in close proximity (finally!) to loverboy, and having a new sphere of people to interact with, life looks a whole lot different today than it did a couple weeks ago. 

But this transition I'm going through is thankfully the kind that I'm willing to greet with arms open wide. It's softened by loving family, friends, roommates, and a certain man who all make life a little more normal feeling amidst all the change. Plus, the whole time I have my ever-constant, never-changing, forever-faithful God by my side. He has carried me through transitions before (ones much more difficult than this one) and I have no doubt He will do it again. He remains solid when everything around me is moving, He stays the same when everything else changes. 

So even if this transition was the kind where I wanted to run away and hide under the covers, He would still be there, ever present, by my side. My job is just to trust. To choose to believe that God is constant and good even amidst transition. To trust that His grace is sufficient, that He is sufficient.

Transition pushes me to trust God more, to rely on His sufficiency. And that's always a good thing. Here's to transition!

Any and Every Circumstance

So I haven't really talked a whole lot about raising support this summer. I've been kind of private about it, keeping to myself as I process through what God is doing, and how and why and when. It has been a journey for certain, and far different than I pictured it being from the get-go.

But when people do ask me about my summer, I often respond with something along the lines of, "raising support is weird." I don't have set hours. I don't get in my car, go to work from 9-5, and come home to relax. I don't know what a day or a week or a month will look like until it gets here.

I'm a pattern person. I like predictability and rhythm in my schedule. So this was tricky. I hated looking at an empty calendar with no appointments. I could barely stand the thought of another unstructured day. But God used it. I learned to manage my time. To take initiative. To have time to worship, work and play. I learned that I LOVED talking to people, casting vision for what God can and will do, sharing my passions and burdens. I learned that hearing about peoples' lives was far more than just work, it was loving them and seeing them where they are at, their hurts and joys alike. I learned that God works through and despite my blunders and shortcomings.

This summer has proven a teacher of many things. The question rings over and over- "Can you trust Me in times of plenty and in times of want? Can you trust Me when funds are coming in and you are optimistic and people are responding well? Can you trust Me when you haven't received a check in weeks, when you are feeling down-trodden and people are disinterested?"

Paul writes in Philippians 4:

I am three days away from my goal to be 75% funded. August 15th. I am currently 61%. GOD is my strength. Whether I'm in the ups of raising support or the downs. Whether I am fully funded, or not. I have found the secret to being content in any and every circumstance, God is my strength!