Letters to The Family: Andrea

Letters to The Family, We The Church One comment

Meet Andrea. Isn’t she gorgeous?! When I met this lovely woman, she was entering her sophomore year of high school and I was the summer intern in the hills of Austin, TX. Andrea was an intense pursuer of truth then and she continues to be today…perhaps with a bit more clarity on what it is she’s seeking. I love this woman and God was so sweet to reconnect us a couple of years ago. She has grown into a beautiful woman of God.

AndreaIn her own words: I’m passionate about life and freedom. My dream is for everyone to know their true identity and walk into freedom in Christ and their purpose. I’m addicted to coffee and laughter, I love to travel and experience new cultures, kayaking is my favorite activity and beaches bring me great joy. I love hugs! I thrive on deep conversations but also love the light easy ones as well. I live my life to please the Father and know Him more than yesterday. I’m an myers briggs ENFP to a T, but don’t put me in a box. You can most likely find me staring off into space day dreaming or wondering why things are the way that they are. 

Dear Bride, Beloved, Body of Christ,

My head and my heart have been everywhere in regards to you. I’ve found myself praying on your behalf a lot lately. I’m not exactly sure why. The Lord will say, “pray for my people” so I do. And then I really feel it.

I feel the burden that you walk in fear.

I feel the burden that you may not know your purpose, so you give up.

I feel the burden that you’re stuck in confusion in regards to your calling.

I feel the burden that you don’t truly know you’re loved by the Father.

I feel the burden that you’re ashamed of your past.

I feel the burden that you don’t really know who you are and whose you are.

I feel the burden that you’re living a performance driven life and it’s burning you out.

I feel your burden, your uncertainty, your frustration, your pain, your anger, and your sadness.

And with all of that said…

I’ve also feel the heart of the Father in the midst of those burdens.
It breaks and it cries.
I feel His heart for you.
I feel His love for you.

Church, the Father longs for a more intimate relationship with you! He wants you to know Him!
And I believe this is the invitation and word for us. He needs us to be his hands, his embrace, his touch, his voice, and his healing.

I feel like we over complicate it, Church.

It’s like we get so caught up in ourselves and what church should look like, we somehow miss the point. The point isn’t to go to church on Sunday to leave feeling good and it’s definitely not to check it off our list of duties for the week.

The point being that maybe there’s something more to this whole following God thing.
That maybe He’s a loving Father who truly delights in us.
That maybe He’s still alive today just as He was 2000+ years ago.
That maybe He still speaks to us.
That maybe He cares more about His relationship with us than He cares about our “calling”, purpose, or what we are going to do with our life and where we’re going.

These past few days I’ve had the opportunity to sit at the feet of two missionaries that felt called to move to the middle east years ago where persecution is happening all around them. As they talked, I felt like a little kid, with wide eyes in amazement that there’s actually men and women who risk their lives for the Kingdom of God every single day.

They live their lives discipling the younger generation.
They know that if they go outside of their home to meet with another believer there’s a high chance of getting caught by the persecutors, and they will go Home.

I sat there convicted. I’ve heard the voice telling me to go. I’ve heard the voice telling me there’s something more. I’ve heard the confirmation that ministry isn’t a calling, it’s a lifestyle. And I do my best to live according to these things…But I still find myself afraid to tell the cashier in front of me at Walmart that God loves them.

Church family, what if we lived our lives according to the gospels and walked outside of our comfort zone? What if we believed everything that the scriptures say about us, about Him, and about His love for us? What if we let go of those worries and burdens we have about ourselves and the energy we use on worrying we use on caring for those around us? What if we loved the Lord so much we would risk our lives for His name to go to the people who have never heard of the name of Jesus before.

And because we’re not, I’m beginning to realize there’s something affecting our relationship with Him; because if we know we’re truly loved in full by the Father, that we’re truly free, that we’re Sons and Daughters of the King, that our home isn’t here on earth but in Heavenly places, then maybe… just maybe, our lives would look a little different.And maybe… just maybe, we wouldn’t be afraid of man and what man might think of us or do to us.

I’m not saying drop everything you know and move to the middle east, but I am saying there’s an urgency that the Father wants to pound in our heads.That there’s something more that He offers and all we have to do is receive it and live it out.

There’s an invitation, He calls us to live uncomfortable lives, church. He’s telling us to let go of the comforts and place them in His hands, “The comforts” being that thing we hold on to so tightly, we would be an absolute mess if we no longer had it.The thing that makes our heart fall to the pit of our stomach if it were no longer a part of our lives.

Yeah, that comfort… that’s the comfort he’s asking us to let go of.

And when that comfort is gone, we begin to walk into an uncomfortable place.

It will be unfamiliar, it might even be a little challenging.
But it’s in those places where we lean into the Father…
It’s in those places that fear, anxiety, and uncertainty will leave.
It’s in those places we will find so much freedom.
It’s in those places that our eyes and ears begin to open to the world around us and we begin to see others the way God see’s them.
It’s in those places that we begin to tap into something that these missionaries already possess and walk in.

It’s in those places that I believe we will truly live, find freedom, and become revival.

So church, here’s my challenge to you:
Will you let go? Will you step outside of comfort and embrace the uncomfortable?
Church, will you go outside of your four walls and hug a stranger? Tell the cashier they’re loved? Pray for a person in need?

Todd White once said, “2/3’s of God is Go.”
You’re called to make disciples to all the nations; maybe that means internationally and/or domestically, I’m not one to make that call, but God is.

So that’s the invitation I think the Father wants to extend to you, church, will you let go and just go?

On Becoming a Grown Up

Leadership, Risk, Student Ministry One comment
The invention of the teenager was a mistake. Once you identify a period of life in which people get to stay out late but don’t have to pay taxes — naturally, no one wants to live any other way.
 –Judith Martin

Kids these days are so quick to grow up. I watch and listen to the choices they are making and the information they have stored in their brains and think, “Oh my gosh! Slow down!” And the things that they look to as “grown up” activities…well, let’s just say that many of those things haven’t been experienced by some adults. So what is the true rite of passage? How do you know when you have become an adult?

Great question. I’m not sure there is a generic answer that we can slap on every person. But, I’ve made a list of the defining moments in my life. The palpable moments when I thought, “Oh my gosh! I’m an adult!”

 

1. Writing that first paragraph.

I mean, honestly. I just typed the words “kids these days”.  If thoughts like that are so strong they are making it through my “cool” filter, I’m definitely not a youth any longer. My days of thinking, “Old people just don’t get me” are over. When I did have those thoughts, “old people” were 35 or beyond. I’m now incredibly near to being “old people”

2. Driving a van full of middle school kids on a mission trip.

   I was 23 years old, interning at a church in Austin, TX and they gave me the keys to a 12-passenger van. We loaded in and the kids frequently loaded up on Monster energy drinks and I was never more terrified to be behind the wheel. I was a 23 year old who was responsible for safely transporting the precious (combustable) cargo of other people’s pre-teens! By the grace of God, we made it safely to and from Arlington. Although, at one point, I informed them that I was cutting them off…no more energy drinks. At the next stop, they were allowed water. WAH-TER.

3. Apologizing to my parents for being an entitled brat.

I don’t remember exactly how old I was when I made this decision. It was in my later twenties. I just realized that I’d spent so much energy carrying around the boulders of how “unfair” life is. My brother and I have had plenty of “who’s the favorite kid” conversations. Naturally, we disagree on this topic. I am completely the older brother in the prodigal son story. “I did things right! Treat me better! Give me more! This is so unfair!” And one day, the Lord just pressed on that hard place in my heart until it cracked. I went to my parents house and apologized. It was strange bringing that to the light. But I knew it was right. It was taking responsibility. It was what a mature person would do. (Parents, hang in there. You may see a day like this down the road, too.)

4. I didn’t cry when I met with my boss.

    Y’all, I had this….um…issue(?) well into my twenties where anytime an authority figured wanted to discuss something with me, I automatically felt like a twelve year old. Really. I dreaded any conversation with a person of authority because I did not know how to handle feeling unheard or corrected. I went in expecting a lecture every time. Once I began to realize this unhealthy relationship I had to authority figures, I started asking begging The Lord for help. One day I knew I was going to have a meeting with my boss for my annual review. This boss in particular never seemed to hear me. (He made an declaration one day as though he had made a great discovery…I’d been telling him that exact thing for an entire year.) As I prepped myself for our meeting that day, I just kept telling the Lord that I wanted to be able to communicate clearly and maturely in our meeting. After we wrapped up, I walked back to my office with a title bounce in my step as I celebrated not having shed a tear. Progress, y’all.

5. I quit my job in obedience.

We all have those jobs that are training jobs. The jobs that we never would choose but God uses to shape us. I had that job for much longer than I’d have liked, and while I learned much about being responsible there, there came a day when I just did not think I could last another moment. I actually left work one day and wept with the Lord the entire way home telling Him that I didn’t like myself when I was at work and that I couldn’t do that job any longer. His response, whispered to my aching soul was , “Then quit.” Quit?! He hadn’t given me another job! It’s irresponsible to walk away from benefits and a paycheck with nothing lined up. I couldn’t quit. But over and over the Lord would ask, “Do you trust me? Then quit.” So I did. I was nervous but felt so much peace once I moved in obedience. And of course, He provided. But in trusting Him enough to know He would take care of me even if I didn’t have income for awhile, was evidence that my faith had matured. I was an adult.

6. I found a job doing what I was made to do.

Living in your calling, is a completely different feeling of being grown up. In some things, you feel like an adult because you are doing things out of necessity and obedience even though you would just really rather not. But, when you get to live in the job that God has wired you to do, you feel like an adult because the pieces of your heart don’t feel severed. They seem to come together in a way that is brand new. You feel a little more whole than before. And that is where I am now. Oh, don’t get me wrong, living in the career I’ve dreamed of since my teens is not easy. In fact, youth ministry is probably the most difficult thing I’ve ever done. However, I feel most like myself here. And in feeling authentically me is a very grown up thing.

What were the moments for you? When did you find yourself looking around at your life, realizing you had grown up?