The past year or so I have been working with the youth group at the church I grew up in. Such an odd thing to wrap my mind around. The group that in so many ways formed who I am today is something I still get to be there for. Though now I'm the responsible one. The mature one. As our interim pastor says, "the one with all the answers." (He JOKES anyway). I show up and help lead where I can. Because it's what is needed. And it's a calling I feel I have on my life. To work with young people, to help teach. The irony is that my journey lately has taken me through a struggle with discipline. Becoming the person I need to be and doing the actions to get me there. I watch my husband and it seems so easy for him while for me often it's a battle of but I don't want to . And I have to admit comparisons have only intensified that feeling. It's so easy to sit back and deny what I ought to do in favor of what's right in front of me. But I
You set me free. I don’t have to be, That old man inside of me. I’m not who I used to be. Thank God, I’m redeemed. I’ve loved this song since it was released. The simple truth I so often forget. I am redeemed. It’s basic. Essentially basic. But why can’t I remember? So often I find myself slipping into my version of “that old man.” I listened to a sermon awhile ago and the pastor talked about how everyone goes through times of desert. Then he started talking to me. Just make sure you aren’t keeping yourself in the desert any longer than you have to. Longer than you have to. The phrase played in my mind like tacky wordart. Big, bright letters swirling into sentences. Into meaning. Into my life. I don’t have to be like that. I don’t have to do that or hide there. I am redeemed . Bought back. Made better. Set free. Don’t keep yourself in that desert any longer than you have to be there. There is a special kind of grace in this remembering. I