I hope this week as been wonderful for all of you! I wanted to share one more thing with you before the week was up. This is from my friend Bailey, she is absolutely beautiful inside and out. When I first heard her story I was so encouraged, and I know you will be too!
Going Green,
Miss
Hey Ladies! My name is Bailey Tinsley, I am 20 years old and currently live in Joplin, MO. I’m soon to be married in July. My lovely friend Missy asked if I would tell a bit of my story, so here we go:
I work in the library on campus at MSSU where Shea (who just graduated) and I attend college. I’m a junior now, but towards the end of my freshman year I had gone through a really hard break up with a guy who wasn’t head over heels in love with Jesus and wasn’t passionate about much more than rock-climbing. Although I believe in commitment in the hardest moments, I chose to unhealthily commit to ignorance of the place I was really in, ignoring the advice of my family, my close friends, and accountability partner. I prayed for this guy a lot, believing that God would give this to me even though it wasn’t of Him, which was about the extent of my prayer life then. Nothing about the relationship modeled a serious love for Christ and the lifestyle He calls His kids to.
We broke up and believing I was truly heart-broken, I buried myself in the Word, selfishly seeking out comfort for my own needs instead of thanking God for stepping in and praising Him for taking care of me. Soon, however, by His grace, my trips to the Word turned into worship and abandon of self. I am a planner and I like to be in charge, but I learned to believe that God has purposeful plans beyond what we can try to do on our own. Job became my favorite book of the Bible (if you’ve never read it- do it!). I made the decision to be single and happy. I strongly believed that boys needed to be at the very bottom of my priority list. This was such a restoring turn in my relationship with the Lord, trusting that if I was supposed to be with someone, (which I have believed since I was a very little girl that someday God wanted me to be butt-crazy in love with my husband) then God would provide! My prayer for that hard time, and even now, was that I would submit to the Father and let Him be in charge—His will and not mine!
So a few months later, when I was working, Shea came to return a book at my counter. He introduced himself and made up a really cheesy comment about how we were both wearing yellow shirts and we should call one another incase it happens again. I thought he was weird and probably annoying. I was too holy to be talking to him, you know. Shea is persistent in everything he does, though—He came back to visit me a few days later before classes let out for summertime; I pretended to be busy so I wouldn’t have to talk to him. I went home (45 minutes away from Joplin) for summer, still praying for God’s will to be manifested in my life.
To shorten a long story, a friendship sprouted from his initial silliness. Come to find out, Shea had actually observed my actions and attitude from afar and talked with his Christian guy friends about pursuing me before he ever introduced himself. We ultimately ended up spending time together when I would visit Joplin for mission meetings over a trip I was taking that summer. I learned that he was really in love with Jesus and wanted to pursue what God wanted to show him in life, but I was super resistant to the fact this awesome servant of the Lord was wanting to be in my life. I thought I had already figured out what God was planning for that season of my life. Of course, I didn’t have God’s plans figured out and Shea waited on me patiently, even after I tried to push him away dozens of times. I prayed about Shea intently, begging God to make him go away or turn both my attention and his away from one another, but God didn’t do that. Instead, God’s provisions revealed a small part of His plan in a short time span. “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future…” Jer 29:11. Sometimes I forget this, but it’s a beautiful promise that God has humbled me with again and again, particularly now in my relationship with Shea.
One of the most crucial things that the Father has lovingly taught me in my in my life so far is patience in the belief His plan is better than anything I can concoct on my own. Looking back now, I wish I had been more obedient immediately when I understood I was doing something that didn’t glorify God. Naturally, Shea and I aren’t perfect. I do wish we had started a little slower and surrounded ourselves with more friends when we began ‘dating’. That is not to say that life hasn’t been so very good together, though! We have both learned immensely about God’s good grace, understanding, and patience from one another. Shea is constantly helping me understand the love Christ has for His church through the love he shows me. Love for other people should be from the overflow of the love you have for the Lord. Psalms tells us that if we delight and commit to the Lord, He will give us the desires of our hearts. Believe this! God is the ultimate Maker—He knew you before you were a thought and sees the innermost longings of your heart. May your first and most important longing be for Him. God's timing, not our own, is so good.
Going Green,
Miss
Hey Ladies! My name is Bailey Tinsley, I am 20 years old and currently live in Joplin, MO. I’m soon to be married in July. My lovely friend Missy asked if I would tell a bit of my story, so here we go:
I work in the library on campus at MSSU where Shea (who just graduated) and I attend college. I’m a junior now, but towards the end of my freshman year I had gone through a really hard break up with a guy who wasn’t head over heels in love with Jesus and wasn’t passionate about much more than rock-climbing. Although I believe in commitment in the hardest moments, I chose to unhealthily commit to ignorance of the place I was really in, ignoring the advice of my family, my close friends, and accountability partner. I prayed for this guy a lot, believing that God would give this to me even though it wasn’t of Him, which was about the extent of my prayer life then. Nothing about the relationship modeled a serious love for Christ and the lifestyle He calls His kids to.
We broke up and believing I was truly heart-broken, I buried myself in the Word, selfishly seeking out comfort for my own needs instead of thanking God for stepping in and praising Him for taking care of me. Soon, however, by His grace, my trips to the Word turned into worship and abandon of self. I am a planner and I like to be in charge, but I learned to believe that God has purposeful plans beyond what we can try to do on our own. Job became my favorite book of the Bible (if you’ve never read it- do it!). I made the decision to be single and happy. I strongly believed that boys needed to be at the very bottom of my priority list. This was such a restoring turn in my relationship with the Lord, trusting that if I was supposed to be with someone, (which I have believed since I was a very little girl that someday God wanted me to be butt-crazy in love with my husband) then God would provide! My prayer for that hard time, and even now, was that I would submit to the Father and let Him be in charge—His will and not mine!
So a few months later, when I was working, Shea came to return a book at my counter. He introduced himself and made up a really cheesy comment about how we were both wearing yellow shirts and we should call one another incase it happens again. I thought he was weird and probably annoying. I was too holy to be talking to him, you know. Shea is persistent in everything he does, though—He came back to visit me a few days later before classes let out for summertime; I pretended to be busy so I wouldn’t have to talk to him. I went home (45 minutes away from Joplin) for summer, still praying for God’s will to be manifested in my life.
To shorten a long story, a friendship sprouted from his initial silliness. Come to find out, Shea had actually observed my actions and attitude from afar and talked with his Christian guy friends about pursuing me before he ever introduced himself. We ultimately ended up spending time together when I would visit Joplin for mission meetings over a trip I was taking that summer. I learned that he was really in love with Jesus and wanted to pursue what God wanted to show him in life, but I was super resistant to the fact this awesome servant of the Lord was wanting to be in my life. I thought I had already figured out what God was planning for that season of my life. Of course, I didn’t have God’s plans figured out and Shea waited on me patiently, even after I tried to push him away dozens of times. I prayed about Shea intently, begging God to make him go away or turn both my attention and his away from one another, but God didn’t do that. Instead, God’s provisions revealed a small part of His plan in a short time span. “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future…” Jer 29:11. Sometimes I forget this, but it’s a beautiful promise that God has humbled me with again and again, particularly now in my relationship with Shea.
One of the most crucial things that the Father has lovingly taught me in my in my life so far is patience in the belief His plan is better than anything I can concoct on my own. Looking back now, I wish I had been more obedient immediately when I understood I was doing something that didn’t glorify God. Naturally, Shea and I aren’t perfect. I do wish we had started a little slower and surrounded ourselves with more friends when we began ‘dating’. That is not to say that life hasn’t been so very good together, though! We have both learned immensely about God’s good grace, understanding, and patience from one another. Shea is constantly helping me understand the love Christ has for His church through the love he shows me. Love for other people should be from the overflow of the love you have for the Lord. Psalms tells us that if we delight and commit to the Lord, He will give us the desires of our hearts. Believe this! God is the ultimate Maker—He knew you before you were a thought and sees the innermost longings of your heart. May your first and most important longing be for Him. God's timing, not our own, is so good.
April 23, 2010 at 11:45 AM
What a great testimony to God's perfect provision and how he gently awakens our hearts to desire the right things when he brings them along! I'm so glad we can trust our feelings and our future to him. :)