Every Morning New

God could have set up the world in any number of ways, but it occurred to me recently how thankful I am that he built cycles into its design. Days & months & seasons & years. These built-in cycles carry with them the message that there are so many chances to start new and fresh--a beautiful picture of the heart of God. Things don't just go on & on forever & ever endlessly, but they start over all the time. The slate gets wiped clean and we have chances to do things differently. Thank God for fresh starts every morning.

Getting Older with Gloria

"We look older than we did a year ago."

"You're right, we do."

I love getting older with Gloria. It's now been almost 7 years since we met in 'The Cave' at ASP. Since then, our friendship has deepened over The Great North American Road Trip, several visits to Port Orchard, WA, a few visits to Fresno, a globe trotting adventure to Kyrgyzstan, countless hours of phone conversations, a visit to DC last year for my birthday, and on October 15, another visit to DC for HER birthday. It's the first time I've been able to be with Gloria on her birthday, and if it's possible, I think I love her more now than I did 2 weeks ago. Hers is a friendship I treasure more and more with time, as we grow and change and share together this journey of life. She is woven intricately into my story.

This last trip was such a sweet one. As DC succumbed to an unseasonably cold and rainy weekend, we spent countless hours curled up on the couch talking under blankets and over hot cocoa, catching each other up on life, reading journal entries, sharing our hearts. These are precious moments. 

As part of Gloria's birthday present, I spent some time stalking her friends on Facebook, asking them to write messages for her. As messages rolled in from all over the world (enough, in fact, to give her one every 10 minutes for 12 hours!), it turned out that I was perhaps just as blessed by these messages as Gloria was. I was reminded just how amazing my friend is, and how rich I am because I know her. Here is part of my own message to Gloria:

As messages came into my inbox one by one, I found myself doing what I've been trained to do as a grad student: noticing themes and patterns (I briefly considered developing a coding system for all the great things people have said about you and doing some statistical analysis to back up my qualitative impressions, but I thought that was a bit over the top :-)). So Gloria, this is what people say about you:

You are a beautiful woman who loves and trusts God with her whole heart, who is passionate about and dedicated to following Him. You are an inspiration to everyone you meet. your love and care for people, and the way you always put them before yourself is far beyond most people's capacity. You are constantly pouring into others, and so many people have been changed because of your investment. You care for the lonely and accept others without judgment. You have an impact on everyone you touch. You are kind, positive, generous and encouraging, always seeing and bringing out the best in people and inspiring them to grow and be better. You are intelligent, practical, ambitious, and a leader. And one of the things we all love most about you: you are FUN-loving and ADVENTUROUS! Gloria, there is quite simply no one in the world like you!

My dear friend, this is what people say about you, but it is what I say about you, too. THANK YOU for always listening to me and for walking with me through life without judgment. THANK YOU for being the first person I turn to when I want to process through an issue and get advice. THANK YOU for knowing me--the big things and the little things that make me feel loved. THANK YOU for being someone who always pushes me to seek and run after God with my whole heart.

Gloria, this is one of the things I admire most about you--the way you seek after God and embrace life with your whole heart. You always dive in fully to whatever is going on around you, whether that is people, events, or life lessons. Every time I talk to you, you have something to share about how God is working. God is always at work around us, and you are someone who is incredibly adept at seeing that work and joining in, wherever you are. That, my friend, is LIVING. I know sometimes you feel like you're waiting for God's ultimate plan to unfold for your life, but you are LIVING it right here and right now! You know how to LIVE under any circumstances, in any location. I believe that is really what life is about, and you, more than anyone else I know, have learned this, and continue to teach me to embrace every moment and learn every lesson and pay attention to every person, for God is continually at work and we have the privilege of joining in to further his Kingdom no matter where we are or what we're doing.

I LOVE YOU. I could not ask for a better friend in the entire world.

I hope 28 is the best year yet! To loving, and hoping, and growing into women who display God's beauty, and many more precious moments.

For those of you who don't know Gloria, I hope you get to meet her someday. I assure you, you will be richer for it!

This post actually has a dual purpose. I wanted to share about my time with Gloria and how grateful I am to have her in my life. But I also wanted to share a more specific story (which Gloria has given me permission to share) that impacted me and I think will impact you, too. On our last morning together, we were sitting on the porch drinking tea, and talking about the future. Gloria is in the midst of trying to discern what is next for her, as the current season draws to a close. She told me that when people ask her what the future looks like, she'll usually say something about international relations or serving abroad, and recently God spoke to her and said, "Gloria, either you need to do something to move yourself in that direction, or you need to change your story." And so together with God, she came up with 30 questions to think through in an ongoing conversation with Him, in order to gain perspective on what might be next. She was very clear in her understanding that these are not questions to try to figure out on her own, but to intentionally seek God about. She sent me the questions the other day, and I think they are so excellent, I wanted to share them with you all. Whether you are in a season of transition or not, I think we would all do well to think through some of these issues:

Ask God:

1. How have you made me?
2. What have you gifted me in?
3. What are my skills? What have you given me the opportunity to learn?
4. What are the things that evoke deep emotion within me? What are the times that I know I have felt your heart?
5. What opportunities have you led me in over the past 15 years?
6. What experiences/talents have you given me that would be of blessing or necessity/service to others?
7. What did you have in mind when you formed my body and breathed life into me?
8. What about my family did you desire to help shape who I am--how was my family part of your plan for my life?
9. Because of human brokenness what about my family experience do you want to redeem and lead me down a different path?
10. Are there negative thought, relational and career habits that you want to break in me?
11. What fears are keeping me from my destiny?
12. When my life is over what talents will I give an account of my stewardship of?
13. If I was an enemy spirit assigned to derail my life and bring destruction to the plans of God for me what would be my strategy?
14. What are the lies that I have given access and influence in my life?
15. Who have you put in my life that inspires me by their character and life journey?
16. What is your definition of success?
17. What are the cultural standards that I feel pressure from? What is your truth?
18. What resources have you brought across my path to help me grow?
19. If I could devote my life to a focus or direction--what would be big enough to be dependent on you for but focused enough to move forward in?
20. As I live in community--what do I observe about myself?--my personality which can only be seen in relationship.
21. What will I be disappointed about if I don't accomplish or experience before you call me home or my health cripples my life?
22. Who are the people that are part of my inner circle of influence? Would you want to make any changes to this group?
23. What would you like for me to complete to bring closure to my current season?
24. What are the practical steps of action--the baby steps you have given to move me into the next season?
25. How do finances factor into the equation? How do you want me to balance wisdom and preparation and faith and dependency upon you?
26. What books would be strategic to truly study and incorporate into my life? The ideas and issues you desire for me to be solid and articulate in.
27. How would you lead me in increasing/strengthening spiritual disciplines to enable my life to withstand the pressure and responsibilities coming in the future?--to prevent burnout and stress fractures that could destroy my life and influence and witness for you.
28. Who do you want me to encourage in their own journey of calling?
29. How does my identity as a woman enable me to better complete what you have prepared for me?
30. What areas of beauty, joy, art, freedom, creativity, spontaneity, peace and grace do you want to grow within me and release out of me?

I know this has been a long post, but I think these questions are full of wisdom and I thought they needed to be shared with the world (or at least, the readers of my blog). Take one or two and chew on them. I think we'll all be better off if we are as intentional about personal growth and transformation as Gloria is!