31days // The Introduction

It's 12:15AM, and I literally just walked into my house. I just got off the plane that took me home from my Influence Conference + Chicago 5 day long adventure, and even though my body is craving my bed, my heart is craving this laptop. Ever since the very first night in Indianapolis, all I wanted to do was pour out my thoughts onto a blank Blogspot screen. And so here I go. 

I have so many pictures like those two above. Pictures that make my heart swell with love for these women who I was blessed enough to spend a weekend with. Pictures with people who once were strangers, and by all normal standards, still should be. Pictures with people who live scattered across various states, with various accents and various lifestyles. 

And I am blessed to call these women my friends because we have one thing in common. 

I'm sure a word that may come to mind is blogging, but that's not the one I'm referring to. It may be true, but there's another word that is truly responsible for these incredible friendships. And that word is Jesus. 

This weekend was incredibly powerful for me, for so many reasons. Yes, the teaching was wonderful. Yes, it was mind blowing to get to hug so many of my closest friends for the very first time. And yes, I am fairly certain I broke the world record for the amount of Starbucks to be consumed in a 5 day period. 

But the real reason that it was powerful? Was because Jesus met me in the middle of the beautiful chaos to speak straight to my soul. In the middle of a room full of hundreds of women, I felt His presence so profoundly that it brought tears to my eyes, each and every time. 

I looked around the room and saw my people. And that brought tears to my eyes, because I was reminded that not too long ago, I wouldn't have felt that way at all. Not too long ago, I would have stood in a room full of women on fire for Christ, and felt like the outsider. I would have wanted to fit in, I maybe would have tried. But I would have felt like a phony, and I would have walked straight out of that room full of Jesus, back to my world full of sin where I felt comfortable. 

As I realized how different my world looks now, the weight of it all sat on me. Not the kind of weight that is a burden, sitting on your shoulders. The kind of weight that you feel as you become overwhelmed with the realization of how much Jesus loves you. And that weight, I hope to carry my entire life. 

My world is different because Jesus Christ came crashing through the walls that I had build around my heart. My life has radically changed because He so graciously poured truth into a mind that desperately needed it. 

Once you've seen how incredible our Savior is, it's impossible not to crave more. I once looked to the world for comfort and acceptance, and found myself tangled in my own messy broken heart. But now, I find myself craving Jesus, and in turn, craving purity, holiness and righteousness, things that I never thought would be attainable for a sinner like me. 

And the truth is, they're not, and they won't be until I meet my Savior face to face. But what's changed between the past and the present, is the lesson that 

just because they're not attainable, doesn't mean you don't strive for them. 

So now, I do strive. And I fail, a lot, but I keep striving. 

And that, my friends, has changed everything. 

I'm joining the 31 Days challenge with Nesting Place, writing for 31 days on one topic. I wasn't gonna do it, it sounds a bit daunting. But the Lord made it pretttyy darn clear what I'm writing about, and I'm up for the challenge. I don't have a schedule, I don't have a plan. I'll just be praying my little heart out, and plopping myself on the floor with my laptop once a day to see what happens. 

My topic? Right here:

Until tomorrow, lovelies.