Life Outside the Box

I wrote this 2 & 1/2 years ago, thinking I would be graduating in May 2012 instead of December 2011. Nonetheless, here is the progress I have made:

I grew my hair really long, donated it to Locks of Love, and cut it really short.

I travelled to Ecuador this past summer, stayed in an orphanage for a week, and got genuinely rocked by my Daddy.

I learned to play guitar, wrote lots of parts of songs, but never really finished one.

I painted pictures of things Jesus was doing in my heart.

I took a road trip to Colorado and learned to live like Liz on top of the World.

I never ran a 10k.

I never threw a mystery party.

I never went to New York City.

Part of me wants to say that I wish I had accomplished every goal on this list, but most of me is content to have lived life outside of the lines I once drew for myself.

Like anyone in my current position, I have to say that I have learned countless lessons about life that I never expected. Some of them are chronicled here, but most of them lie in the depths of my journals from the past few years.

What I think happened is that, at 19, I put life in a box constructed by accomplishments and college degrees. What I didn't understand was that Jesus wanted me to have life to the full simply because I belonged to Him, that the richness of life had nothing to do with anything I did, but everything to do with who I was in Him. It is in this rich place of identity and intimacy that I find my very reality influenced by His peace, abundant in provision, and entrenched in solid community.

In the past 3 & 1/2 years, events and concepts once thought incomprehensible have come to make up the very fabric of my story. In this period of my life:

I started the journey of falling head over heels for Jesus, choosing to face life with Him as my husband, making key decisions together, and constantly living into new adventures.

I learned a lot from my friends Kelsi and Chris O. and constantly experience the blessing it is to live as a part of their household.

I learned to balance this with this.

I learned to take big risks and trust that God would catch me.

I got stretched beyond belief.

I fell in love with Taylor Marin.

I began to live in circles toward the Kingdom of Heavem.

My heart got healed of a number of past wounds.

I learned to pursue honor even when I didn't want to.

I got ruined by the Gospel.

I think that a number of these things are going to be reoccurring themes for the rest of my life. What I love is that God didn't just take my meager expectations of my life and give them to me. Instead, He invited me into new adventures and challenged me to become like Him in the process.

I can't help but think that this next stage of life will also consist of not doing things I once thought important and being pleasantly surprised by Jesus' creative shaping of my life.

Can't wait.