Tonight I went to spend time at some friends' house where I anticipated watching a movie. It turned into four hours of truly experiencing what it means to be in living, loving community with the body of Christ. As people were coming in and out of the house from the garage, into the kitchen (where I was kind of hunkered down and quite comfy), and into other rooms of the house I couldn't help, but smile at the depiction of Christ in our midsts.
One of the older men was having an impromptu Bible study with some of the young men while some of the young women and I sipped on our tea and shared our hearts, laughs, and struggles and were later joined by others to simply enjoy each other's company. To the others tonight might have only been a "bit of banter" and "good craic", but to me it was nothing like what I expected and nothing I could've anticipated.
But you know, looking back, I never would have expected that this would be my life at 24 years of age. And I couldn't have anticipated not only what God would carry me through, but also what He's brought me to. He truly does know our hearts better than we know ourselves. He continually reminds me of this through the ministry with the young women I'm blessed to serve. Today was the first day of our healthy living program. With five young ladies joining a few volunteers, my heart was full of joy and I honestly think it's because, although I have taken some detours and not always stayed God's exact path for myself (the Holy Spirit being somewhat like a GPS when I take a wrong turn with that genius phrase: "recalculating" lol), but I'm doing what God wants me to do with whom He wants me to do it exactly where He sees fit.
Only God can be the explanation for a tomboy from a small town on a big 'ole city being led to minister to young women in a seaside town in Northern Ireland. When people ask me how I know this is where God wants me I come back to what a wise friend once said about me, "For a girl in her twenties who lives in sweats and t-shirts, hair pulled back in a mess, and a face free of make-up (because she doesn't own any) with a job offer for something she loves doing...for that girl to move over 3,000 miles away to do a ministry that is quite foreign, in a foreign land, and do her best to learn how to dress like a lady, wear make-up, and do her hair just so that she can better reach the young women of that area for Christ...only God has enough of an imagination and as good a sense of humor and enough strength to conjure up something like that in the heart of a young woman."
Christ in me, the hope and glory. The only explanation for this story I'm loving to live and living to love.
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