SO, so much has happened since I last clicked "publish" on this page.
I quit my job (the one that paid, anyway), we sold our house in the only town my children have ever known and left our family and friends and familiarity for something new and unknown (more on that later).
Being home full time with three children 4 and under has not allowed much time for blog upkeep (hence no posts since last July). I have continued to write but just the old-school style--in my composition notebook during my quiet time, so needless to say when I say "write" I mean written prayers.
I have also not had a laptop since December, as I had always just used my work provided one for evening and weekend personal use. However, with me in the beginning stages of starting a small business coupled with a bit of a tax return, I recently was able to purchase a shiny new MacBook (I never thought I'd type that!) so now I feel like I'm typing in first class (minus the laundry piles and heap of matchbox cars and plastic farm animals at my feet).
Writing is something I don't really feel like I have an option to do. It's my art. It's something that lives inside of me that I have to get out--and that call has become increasingly clear to me as I seek God's will for my time and efforts and gifts and, well, life.
So, with some divine passion deep within that won't die out and a sweet friend who has put the blogging bug in my ear for a few months now,
here I am.
I felt that in order to "reemerge" I needed to give ol' "Joyful Ambiguity" a makeover. It's amateur, I know--I'm no graphic designer by any stretch of the imagination. But a fresh title, new colors and updated pictures did her good, and gave me the blank canvas I needed to begin again.
So, without further adieu, I set out to blog a bit of a series on a movement that has been instrumental in my faith. A movement that has stemmed from a group of women with a vision and the conviction to take action.
I'm talking about IF: Gathering.
But first, a bit of background:
God is seriously so good. As I look back over this last year, I see how I got mixed up in this beautiful event at just the right time. I attended IF: Pray with a BUNCH of beautiful women in my hometown of Hermiston, Oregon and got an itty bitty taste of how much God was moving there at the venue as well as all across the country in similar gatherings. At that time, our house had been placed on the market and sold in almost the same day. We knew we were moving and I was to quit my job but that was pretty much it. It was a time of major transition for my little family and I--and I remember showing up to IF: Pray a bit distracted and anxious and frazzled from all of the impending change, but leaving with a sense of peace and encouraged and EXCITED for the new path God was calling us to.
Fast forward 4-5 months. I'm in a new house in a new city. Home with super sick kiddos and sick myself. My husband is working insane hours and I'm beyond tired. I had hoped to attend an IF: Gathering event at a large church in the Valley nearby, but with the flu running rampant in our home and G's work schedule it was far from realistic.
So I did what any exhausted delirious mommy with three sick kiddos would do: I put them to bed and stayed up all night--FOR TWO CONSECUTIVE NIGHTS to watch IF: Gathering, of course! I made myself a huge thermos of hot lemon-y tea, had my journal and Bible in my lap and was wrapped in my favorite old afghan and didn't move for like, 8 hours. Well, except to pee and nurse my baby back to sleep (approximately 14 times, but who's counting?)
I sang, I prayed, I took notes like my life depended on it, I cried, I laughed, and more than anything else I WAS RENEWED.
Sure, I was convicted and broken and humbled and encouraged but MAN, was I ever renewed with each and every word that was brought forth that entire weekend. I knew that I was supposed to be right there, in my chair, in the midst of all the sickness and transition and unknown that was going on in my life. And even though I was all alone in my living room and it was the middle of the night, I felt a wonderful sense of community with the women I was worshipping with. It was incredible.
As I sit here with my notes open in my lap I realize that I am still riding the wake those waves created, and I want to continue breathing in and soaking up those challenging, uplifting, raw words that were spoken throughout the event.
SO, in the following week--or two--I will be reviewing several of the messages that were spoken and points that were made that weekend by the many dynamic, powerful, God-fearing women who just plain BROUGHT IT. I will basically just draw upon what really impacted me or served as a source of encouragement or just a plain truth-slap in the face (because lets face it--we all need those from time to time). Basically, just spending some time reflecting and remembering.
Care to join me, friend?
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