Howdy partners, this week was an emotional rollercoaster–an example of hope… and disappointment. The highs and lows of this earthly life. The week had an amazing beginning, win after win, feeling close to God. These highs gave me hope that the rest of the week would be amazing. I was looking forward to Bible study with Dayanah and her friends and my friend Lauren’s birthday picnic was Saturday. So much to look forward to, plus I was still reveling in the victories from the previous week. My mistake was celebrating victories and forming expectations from it. But, we will get into it.
The Highs -
My mom asked me, over a BoJangles chicken and waffles sandwich, if I would baptize her.The Lows -
I went into Bible study this week super excited, ready to have deep conversations, and break new ground–just like last week. Dayanah’s friend invited her friend, which made me excited to reach more students, however this friend was her crush and along with Dayanah’s other friend being her now boyfriend, I felt like I was running a dating event. Our Bible study was filled with crappy answers, flirty giggles, and awkward silence. Along with me not feeling well, to me, this week's study was a failure.Let’s find the God moments in everything
First off, as I write this, I just noticed that I wrote a sentence for the good thing and a whole paragraph for the negative. Why do the negatives affect us more than the positives? Because we are never content and always striving for something better. A co-worker AJ and I had a great conversation before I sat down to write this. He shared with me Matthew 6:26-2926 Consider the birds of the sky: They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they? 27 Can any of you add one moment to his life span[j] by worrying? 28 And why do you worry about clothes? Observe how the wildflowers of the field grow: They don’t labor or spin thread. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these.
To sum it up, our conversation was about how we strive to be Solomon but God calls us to be lilies. Content with where we are, who we are, and what we do. I think what went wrong with Bible study is that I forgot that these are high school students at the end of the day. They have their own stories, struggles, and insecurities. I was caught up in striving for our Bible study to be filled with rich conversations and deep discovery, however our time together isn’t Solomon, it’s a lilly… does that make sense… probably not… but praise God.