When we arrived at her house I exhaled in comfort and ease even before we stepped in. Her front porch was so inviting and her home screamed "welcome". I could tell you how beautiful the space was but it had nothing to do with any fancy furniture or decor but a warmth and calm and spirit of peace. SO many places to sit and be still. To dive into scripture or prayer. To talk and laugh. To play and stretch. To take of the earth and create and enjoy. Green tea with honey, cats who enjoyed my slippers as much as I did, long games of snakes and ladders, learning to make guacamole,meeting great people, helping to create other great meals that nourished in stead of filled up, listening to music being played by my navigator and friend who didn't know I could hear it, reading and thinking and walking and being. Oh did I need this weekend and oh do I want to bring Tom here too. I feel like this was one of those God-planned stops on this JESUS FREAK journey of mine that had all the ingredients needed to find my spirit there-the parts that had been muffled by work and t.v and the enemy and most of all myself. When we left on Monday I wasn't sad although I do miss her instead I felt like her home was so much of what I needed but never wanted me to love it more than where I came from just simply wanted to make me better for returning. selfless place that nurtures your spirit but wants you to be free to continue your journey with God or in my case my JESUS FREAK journey. A space and a place and a spirit that wants you better not to keep you to itself but to equip you to be better for the sake of the KINGDOM. I was excited to reconnect with Tom and my family wanting to share this great experience. My navigator(and friend) and I left being better for the experiences there. I asked her what 3 things did she learn or experience on our weekend and it lent to a great discussion on our long ride home which included some great music and singing too. I learned 3 things too. A recipe for my spirit I would like to share with you:
- Gods story never gets old. One night our friend opened her home to 6 more people that were strangers to me. She asked me to tell the story of the mission and God in my life and although fear told me to be careful how much you tell so you don't bore these people-my spirit reminded me how great a work He has done in me and where I have come from. I needed to hear it again. I needed to have a flood of emotion overcome me with the awesomeness of God and how there is nothing He cant do. My spirit needed to hear it and I needed to share it. It lit a flame in me.it reminded me that whatever overwhelms me I needed to give it to Him because He always knows whats best for me. I loved reminding the others in the room about His awesomeness too, sometimes we all forget.
- Focusing on God will never be time lost. Spending the time reading, napping, praying being still for God was wonderful. I needed to see that it is not a waste of time or that time is not always to be filled DOING something. Sometimes just being in the stillness with Him is the when you hear Him the loudest and when all the things He was trying to say before can make it through now because there is no, t.v, meetings, e-mails,phone calls,laundry, cleaning, appointments,etc etc etc. I learned that I can do that here too and I should because I am better because of it.
- learn to cook. I always tell people I cannot cook and that is partially true but more so I didn't ever take the time to really try and I was afraid of failing when i did . When we took the good things of the earth created by God and chopped, grated, stirred, laughed, HELPED,prayed, created, took chances and from all of that nourished our bodies with goodness and not gluttony (something I struggled with) my spirit was alive with hope and community and faith. Try something new with Gods creations on the earth and if you already do that invite someone to create with you its an incredible experience.
Have you lost a little bit of your spirit? GO and find it. Tell Gods story in your life to someone so you can hear it out loud, take some time to be still with Him and go create with all the goodness He has given us and ask someone to join you. I woke up today and bought some ingredients to make soup and to make dinner for tonight. The soup was delicious and I shared it with Hannah and I cant wait to make dinner later with her and ignite my spirit again. Thank you my friends for this weekend and thank you to all the friends I got to meet and thank-you for my husband Tom for giving me to space to go but most of all thanks be to God for all He has for us in this world, A world that has all the ingredients to help us create goodness and love and community and grace and to get our JESUS FREAK on!
