unexpected friendship

This blog is dedicated to a girl who has become a dear friend to me.

"Would anyone like to run a half marathon with me?" Little did I know that one facebook status update would create a friendship totally God-orchestrated. After many responses, only one girl really followed up and showed interest in laboring through months of training to achieve a goal that neither one of us envisioned was possible in November. We were already friends - kind of. More like 'I know your friends and you know mine so we are sort of friends too' type of thing.

Lacing up our sneakers to venture out together on our first run sparked conversation right away. I learned about her, she learned about me. The training continued. So naturally, our friendship grew.

But not exactly so 'naturally'. C.S. Lewis puts it this way:

"But in friendship, being free of all that, we think we have chosen our peers. In reality, a few years' difference in the dates of our births, a few more miles between certain houses, the choice of one university instead of another, posting to different regiments, the accident of a topic being raised or not raised at a first meeting--any of these chances might have kept us apart. But, for a Christian, there are, strictly speaking, no chances. A secret Master of the Ceremonies has been at work. Christ, who said to the disciples 'Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you,' can truly say to every group of Christian friends 'you have not chosen one another but I have chosen you for one another.' The friendship is not a reward for our discrimination and good taste in finding one another out. It is the instrument by which God reveals to each the beauties of the others. They are no greater than the beauties of a thousand other men, by friendship God opens our eyes to them. They are, like all beauties, derived from Him, and then, in a good Friendship, increased by Him through the Friendship itself, so that it is His instrument for creating as well as revealing."

I strongly believe that the reason Katie had a desire to run a half marathon with me was because Christ put that in her heart. His plan was so perfect. He has given me a friend to encourage and vent to. To laugh with, cry with (literally), pray with, and struggle up those hills with. So thank you, Katie, for being a great friend when I least expected you to come into my life. But most of all, thank you, Lord, for choosing us to become friends and grow in You.

waiting

God's timing is better than mine.

And He is really trying to teach me that. One of the fruits of the Spirit is patience, and there are so many situations in my life right now where I need to be patient before the Lord and wait on Him. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I have this "plan" of how things are going to work and when everything is going to happen, and if I see an opportunity for a solution I want to seize it right away. But with patience comes the fact that we are not in control of those "plans" and we're in the passenger seat, not the driver's seat.

Psalm 27.14

clarity

I feel as though my future is so unclear. In high school, I had dreams of being a pharmacist. A year later, I hurt my leg in gymnastics, where I quickly grew a passion for physical therapy, and soon that became my career goal. Going into college, I still had the idea of physical therapy, and therefore, chose biology as my major. Science and math have always been my stronger subjects, and I've already seen the Lord reassure me that I am in the right major.

Second semester of freshman year and first semester of sophomore year, thoughts of going on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ consumed my head. Then I thought of teaching third world countries about sustainability (clean water, prevention of AIDS, etc), or going to seminary, or STINT (short-term missions with CCC).

Yeah I know, I'm all over the map. And just this past week God has been putting physical therapy in my heart again. Or using my major for some medical career. So confusing, and so unclear. So many possibilities, and so many people asking what I want to do with my life. I don't know.

But at the same time, I do know. I want to live a life where I have a passion to know God above all things (John 17:3). I want a desire to see Christ celebrated where I live. I want my life to be an unmistakeable source of grace and hope to those around me. I want a willingness to share the gospel to all people - to go anywhere, at any time, at any cost, to do anything to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. My purpose here is to bring glory to God, and if I set my eyes on Him, he will lay out the path he wants me to walk upon. I may not know what I'm going to do when I graduate, but I do know that I should not have any fear of what the future holds because I have a Savior who has every single detail mapped out for me. And if I wander off the path, His grace will lead me back.

So, here's to not knowing my future. Here's to complete clarity in Christ.