GREEN-LIGHT revolution

Happy Monday!

Can’t believe it’s my turn to post again! It’s amazing how much has changed in such a small timespan. Guess what ladies?! I’ve moved back to Missouri and actually, I’ve been back for a month now! I guess you could say God has been doing some major prompting in the past few months. A long story short, I was here in Joplin for the tornado and realized that I really wanted to be here again, so I asked God to either give me a reason to stay in NH, or a reason to go back to Joplin. A few days later, I was given a reason to go, so here I am. Needless to say... I'm pretty excited! :D

Since moving back to Joplin, I’ve been thinking a lot about the meaning of “home”. For the majority of my life, I've lived in the same house in NH, so is that my home? Or is Joplin my home now? Does your home have to do with a location? People? Feelings? Where is my home? Maybe you’ve also pondered the same type of stuff before. I know that every time I start getting caught up with these thoughts, one word of encouragement always comes to mind. Just before I left NH for the first time, a friend of mine had a word for me saying, “As you leave your family, the places you’ve always known, maybe feel out of place or lonely remember to ABIDE IN JESUS. He is your home. He will always be you home.” Ok, maybe this doesn’t sound like such a revolutionary idea, but for me it was and continues to be.

The answer to my previous questions about home find their answer in Jesus. My home is with Him. In His presence. What a great reminder! Our home is with Jesus and it will be with Jesus for eternity! It doesn’t matter if I’m feeling lonely, or if I don’t know where exactly I belong, I’m ALWAYS home. I’ve probably quoted this Psalm before but I just can’t help but type it again...

You make known to me that path of life, in your presence is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasure forevermore.- Psalm 16:11.

My goal is to rest in this encouragement! No one knows what journey is set before us. Maybe some of us will live in the same town for the rest of our lives, and maybe others will travel the globe... Either way it doesn’t matter because if we have Jesus, we have our ETERNAL home that will NEVER change...experiencing fullness of joy in His presence and pleasures forevermore. Amen to that!

Going green,

Abby

Oh and PS...Congratulations to our very own Rebekah Kruvand who got engaged last week! We are all so thrilled for you Bek! God is good! :D

How many have I crushed on? Let me count the names.

Who here knows what I’m talking about? Sometimes I think I’m the only one, but I know I’m not. I’ve talked to too many of you and know I’m not alone. I know how us girls think.

It’s a common thing for girls to ask each other “what’s going on with that one guy?” or “what are you thinking as far as guys right now?” It’s an answer that I am always all the more ready and eager to give, to talk about, to giggle about.

But it profits me nothing! There are so many good guys in my life. I know we’re all in different stations and seasons, at different ages, in different parts of the country (or world!) but this applies, so stay with me! : ) Maybe there aren’t the awesome guys that I’m about to describe in your peripherals right now, but hang on, because they’re out there and they’re worth waiting for!

So I was saying: There are so many good guys around me. There are friends I’ve stayed in touch with from college, guys I go to church with, guys friends introduce me too – they are good! They are impressive. They are responsible and kind and courteous and helpful. I thank God for brothers like this!

With so many of them out there and polygamy not being an option, I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t get to marry them all. So, instead of crushing on every single nice guy, I’m trying out some advice I received at a time I wasn’t willing to receive it…but it stuck in the back of my mind and now I’m sharing it with you. A wise friend told me to, “treat every guy you meet as your brother.” What good advice! I experience less anxiety and less self consciousness when I think of guys this way. I’m also less apt to have flirty, regret-it-later interactions with them if I treat them like a brother. In place of awkwardness is natural get-to-know-you interaction…which is good since I don’t want to marry a stranger anyway!

I used to look around and say, “Well, this is the best guy I’ve ever met. I guess I should go for this one?” No way! I’m confident that whether I’ve met this guy yet or not, everything will fall into place in perfect time. And he’ll be the one after me, not the other way around.

Going green!

-Andrea

So, I’ve never really been a huge Taylor Swift fanatic… but as I was driving home late Friday night, I was skipping through radio stations, and heard these few lines:

“Brace myself for a goodbye
Cause it's all I've ever known
When you took me by surprise
You said 'I'll never leave you alone”

I felt a familiar twinge when hearing those lyrics. I’m sure we’ve all had past crushes, relationships, friendships, or hopeful crushes that never ended the way we would have liked them to. “Goodbye” has been a really familiar vocabulary word for me. After a while, my heart began to expect an “ending” to always happen. When I think of past relationships that God’s saved me from, and who I could have been if left in sin, I can completely see God’s rescue. When it came to my relationship with my heavenly Lover, I carried that same expectation for a “goodbye” with me. There’s always been an ending to every other relationship, so surely this one is too good to be true….

But that’s what’s amazing to me, there never has to be any “goodbyes” with my King! I am His, and He is mine. Forever. We never have to end things, say goodbye, or leave each other. He has said to me, “I’ll never leave you alone”. I don’t have to brace myself to be hurt by Him. I don’t have to wall up my heart. There is freedom in His love for me. Pain, disappointment, regret don’t have to be “all I’ve ever known” anymore.

Here are some verses that God has really used in my life when I was broken, disappointed, deserted, and rejected:

“They will be called the Holy People, the Redeemed of the Lord; and you will be called Sought After, the City No Longer Deserted.” – Isaiah 61:12

“Then you will look and be radiant, your heart will throb and swell with joy…” – Isaiah 60:5

“Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.” – Isaiah 58:8-9

“Shake off your dust; rise up, sit enthroned, O Jerusalem. Free yourself from the chains on your neck, O captive Daughter of Zion.” – Isaiah 52:2

The last verse God sent to me as my anthem when I was in bondage to a sinful relationship. He freed me from that relationship, thank you Lord(!), and rescued me from captivity. I love Him for freeing me and saving me from myself.

Rise up beautiful Daughters of Zion! He is our Lord. We are called Sought After.

Going green,
Miss.