a new creation?

Anyone who belongs to Christ is a new person. The past is forgotten, and everything is new. -2 Corinthians 5:17 (CEV)


So I went to Wyoming at the beginning of the summer and our team had a mixed CD to give out while we were on the trip. Naturally, I got a copy, put it on my computer, and forgot about it. But a certain song came on shuffle yesterday afternoon while I was dancing around my kitchen and trying out a couple of new recipes for granola and multi-grain cranberry-banana bread.



Admittedly, this song is not representative of my typical musical preferences, but I had to listen to it over and over again. "Who wrote this?" I thought, "I mean, seriously, somebody else has felt like this before?" I made my roommate listen to it. She understood why the simple lyrics resonated so well in my heart because she's been right by my side for the majority of this journey. But we were apart for three journals (May 15th-August 14th) this summer, and after only a few days together, we were able to see wonderful changes in each other - changes that are a direct result of Grace.

Because our time apart was sandwiched between months of living and doing life together, she was able to see the changes in me quite clearly. But just for the virtual record, here are some of the changes that I am aware of:

1. Mercy. He's been teaching me to Love people in a different way than I have had the capacity for in the past. I'm learning to see past things that make it hard to love people for who they are. The value of empathy seems to be dissolving my tendencies toward judgment.

2. Charismatic... Stuff. Wesley. It's a little crazy, but I like it a lot. I've never been a part of this kind of passionate worship before. The funny thing is, the actual services are only a sort of punctuation for what's going on in Athens. Healing. Restoration. Revival.

3. Peace. I don't compulsively make lists anymore (Well, sometimes I do, but I most of them get thrown away pretty quickly). I don't try to plan out my class schedules two and three semesters in advance. I don't micromanage every minute of every day anymore. I kind of like not being in control. Heck, I don't even know where I'm going to be a year from now. And I'm kind of totally okay with that... weird, right?

4. Restoration. Sometimes progression happens in the form of retrogression. When I was sixteen, I came to the conclusion that the Lord was truly enough for me. That His Love was more than capable of fulfilling the desires in my heart for a husband (If he exists, I shall henceforth refer to him as "Beardy") at some point in the future. Well, we all know what happened next. But in a lot of ways, I find that the wholeness that the sixteen-year-old version of myself possessed is returning. My passion for international missions has been renewed. Old friendships have been restored to their former glory.

5. A soft heart. He is taking away the stony places. I feel things now.

To name a few.