a simple word.

Hey y’all! A quick update with what’s been going on in my life…In the past month I moved to Dallas, started college, and have been non-stop busy with this new chapter of my life! I’m loving every single moment and could not be more happy with where I am in life right now. I’m finally having some time to slow down and I have been wanting to write posts about so many things and hope I’ll be able to share a lot of them soon! I wanted to share a story though today that I started to write about 3 weeks ago, but never got around to finishing because ya know life is crazy!!! So here it is:)

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About a month ago, or the weekend before I left for Texas, one of my closest friends Brooke & I were at church and as we were worshipping Brooke came over to me and asked if she could pray for me. She prayed for a few things for me and being my second to last night before leaving for college that was something that was most definitely on both of our minds. One specific thing Brooke prayed was that I would find the most amazing community as I moved from Huntington Beach, CA to Dallas, TX with absolutely no one from home coming along to join me on this new adventure. As she spoke these words of encouragement and hope over me asking Jesus to provide me with a community that would surround me in so much love and assurance I couldn’t help but start crying. Little did b know, but this was one of the #1 things I have been praying about for the past few months now. It’s funny because it’s something as simple as the word community, but it’s what I’ve found myself praying about over and over again. So to hear Brooke praying for this for me too was something so needed and reassuring in the moment. After we left church, we were driving and I shared this story with Brooke. I told her how crazy it was that that was the one specific thing she prayed about and how that was the one specific thing I had been praying about for the past few months. I went on to tell her that this word community (as simple of a word it is) was the number one thing I thought about during my trip to Peru that had occurred about 4 weeks before this. 

I traveled to Peru with a group of 31 people and most of us had never even met before! I had a few of my closest friends on the trip and even my sister & dad, but there were still so many people I barely knew! Throughout the week we all grew SO close to one another and this new community that was formed was seriously something that only could have been created by the work of God. I know I can speak for everyone and not only myself and say that we were all truly amazed by the way everyone got along so well and loved one another so immensely, so fast. I started thinking about this throughout the week and realized that this was exactly the type of community I was hoping to encounter in Dallas. I shared with our team on one of our last days in Peru how incredible of a realization Jesus had shown me. I told them that growing up I had always had such an amazing community surrounding me 24/7. Whether it be friends or family, coaches or teachers, pastors or church leaders, I always had the most amazing people right by my side doing life with me. After I made my college decision and decided to move to Texas this was definitely something I began to think about. How would I leave such a perfect community that I’ve grown up in for the past 18 years? Would I ever find a community as great as my one back home? These were all questions that began to spiral in my head. In Peru however, I came to realize that no matter where I go, or who I encounter in life, if the community around me and the people I interact with know Jesus and love Him in the same way I do, a rich, strong, and real community can be formed. With a foundation based on Christ and nothing else, I believe that any community has the capability to thrive and this is exactly what happened in Peru. We may not have known each other that well, but we all knew Jesus and through Him, He led us into community with one another and shaped & formed our relationships with one another into friendships that will last a lifetime. Through this experience, it became so aware to me how the Lord not only desires for us to be in community with those around us and therefore will help us in creating these relationships, but He also loves us so much to have this desire for us. I left Peru feeling excited and more relieved about finding a new community in Dallas. At first I had faced a lot of uncertainty, but the Lord has continued to remind me that this is something He has already prepared for me in Dallas and I therefore have nothing to worry about.

Back to the story with my friend Brooke…we were driving and I finished telling her what had been going through my mind as she was praying for me and the same things I just shared about Peru. When I finished she told me she was in shock and had to immediately tell me her side of the story. She said when she felt the Lord telling her to pray over me she was unsure of what exactly she wanted to say, but felt so led to do it that she just did. (yup faithful girl right here;) ) She said that when the idea of community popped into her head she questioned it and thought that seemed too “typical” and “simple” of a word and idea to pray over me. Yet faithful again, she took what she heard from God and spoke so much encouragement to me through the words she said. You may be wondering where I’m going with this story and why I decided to share it, but here’s why. After both of us shared these things with each other, we sat in the car and we couldn’t help but say over and over “wow that’s so crazy..wow wow wow”. We had clearly seen how the Lord worked in both of our lives and how He had used the both of us to do so. Brooke and I were both reminded of a few things. 

1: Sometimes when you feel the Lord telling you to do something, even though it may seem foolish, we must be reminded that He has a plan.

2: When crazy things happen in our life that we are taken back by, for example Brooke praying over something I needed to hear so bad in that moment, share it with people!!! Mine & Brooke’s entire conversation and everything that came out of this talk wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t tell her how much the things she said meant to me and the story behind why it was so important to me.

3: Be bold. Be bold in your ability to pray for others around you. Be bold in listening to what the Lord tells you to do. Be bold in sharing the things that occur in your life and be transparent in that way.

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I felt called to share this story for a while now (as I said I had started writing it a few weeks ago, got distracted, and just now finished it), but I truly wanted to share this for the reasons and reminders that I shared above. It is such a privilege that the Lord sometimes makes it so evident to us that He is working in our lives and I’m thankful that He does so to show us how much He truly cares for us. When crazy things like this occur and I know they aren’t “just a coincidence” I become so stoked on Jesus and reminded of how present and alive He is. We have the greatest opportunity to share these stories with others and I hope you do so! I encourage y’all and myself to be bold in the aspects I mentioned above and continue or start to share things that happen in your life (good or bad), but also to share the ways in which you see Jesus in your life. He desires for us to live in community with one another and that’s such an incredible gift that we have been given by Him. So take that gift and embrace it and live passionately with and for those in your community!!!!!!!

1 Corinthians 12:25-27

so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

1 Corinthians 1:10

I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.

Galatians 6:2 

Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.