REMEMBER

(Friends at Mercy)













“Remember how far the Lord has brought you.” These were the words that a friend told me when I told her that I was frustrated with myself, that I was not braver or more well spoken or could not pretend things didn’t hurt when they did…

Reminded of where I was and where the Lord has brought me I cannot help but rejoice in my Heavenly Father and thank Him and trust that He will continue to accomplish His work within me.

Last week marked one year that I have been back in Glenwood! It seems crazy, and sometimes feels like I never left and then some days I feels like I just got back. It hasn’t been the easiest year, and sometimes I still get scared or just totally overwhelmed with the need here. But as I sit here and type this blog entry I think back to the house on Union Street and the great and hard times that we (Denine, Donna, and I) had there. Things are different yet still so much the same. Kids still come over and are loved and given space to be kids, but the BIGGEST difference is me. I know who I am. I know where my identity is and it is in Jesus and who He created me to be; it is not in my past or my shame, it is wholly in Him. The difference in speaking and working with the girls in the neighborhood is that I can speak to them from a healed place and not a broken victim.

This life is a journey for sure and I have been down many roads and there are many more to come. Though I secretly wish at times that God would just wave a magic wand and I would be a great communicator and that He would help me speak with passion without crying :) and that I would know what to do and what not do in situations, and that I would be a better encourager to others along this journey with me. But He chooses not to “fix” me but to “teach” and “guide” me. My prayer is that I will be a willing student and that when doubts and lies begin rob my heart of joy I will, “Remember how far the Lord has brought me.” and Press into Him and continue on, for in His streangth alone I find REST.