Life is hard but God is good

The past few months have been a whirlwind. They've been exciting in a lot of ways, they've been trying in more. We've learned alot about what it truly looks like to be faithful and we've learned what it means to walk in God's spirit.

This past week was the culmination of alot of God's lessons and subsequently, the lowest point I think either Nick or I have experienced for a long while. We've had friends to build us up and little spots of good news but for the most part we've felt defeated, attacked, and extremely ashamed of where we are in life.

To add a weird twist, my mom had to really walk through one of the same struggles we've been battling as her life took a small turn this week. It felt like the perfect timing to get away and come to Charleston to be with her a few days early before the Cleansing Stream retreat.

The point of this blog is coming, I promise. Today we were having lunch with her new BFF, Kay, and she was speaking such encouraging truth into my mom that I was blown away by her positivity and how she seemed to always have the right thing to say - exactly. She was so sweet and uplifting and still gently correcting my mom and pushing her closer to Christ. All I could think was, "Lord - I need someone like that. Nick needs someone like that. Please, please let him meet someone today who will tell him how special and strong he is. Please let someone be able to speak truth and do it in love. Please give us people like that."

Please don't get me wrong, I have so many encouraging friends who have shown me so much love and grace these past few months and Nick has people like that too... but this just felt so different. It felt gentle while still being strong. It felt firm and empathetic and I just longed for that for us.

Right around that time, I felt God truly speaking to me for the first time during this dry spell. All at once, I realized that the key to walking through the rest of this season is to stop looking for every other person in our life to start meeting our encouragment needs and to begin to BE THAT PERSON for everyone else I come in contact with. If I can take my eyes off of my situation, off of myself and just see the needs of others, my spirit can really be lifted.

Life is really hard. The worst part about saying that is knowing that it can and may be a lot harder than what we're dealing with now. We are human and young and just as clueless as can be. But we're also equipped - and called - to be a light to the world (including the lost and the found). I hope I can be that for all of you.