Tonight I write in order to begin some kind of explanation of how God moving in and through the world in and around me. I only hope to, if even in some small or inadequate way, make sure that everyone knows that my life, as I remain in the love of Jesus, is known and shaped by God alone.
This morning I woke up in Bowling Green, Ohio. My small weekend journey to my university in Chicago is actually the beginning of my transition to the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland.
At 11:30 we left for Chicago (only missing our intended departure time by 1 1/2 hours). As we drove through Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, I absorbed the greens and the yellows of the countryside. The way the sunlight enlivens the rows of trees between fields of soybeans or planes of corn. With the windows down and the chilly September air rushing around our faces, Emily, Teddy, and I danced and sang and laughed and smiled. Such life in this air.
We arrived in Chicago and eventually made our way to Katie's apartment. No friend has ever thrown me a party, but Katie did just this today. She hosted some of my dearest North Park friends with small glasses of wine, a “Goodbye Becca” sign, a clean house lit with tea light candles, and merriment in her soul.
The community of people who came to this gathering tonight loved me. They believe God is in me, they wish me well, they prayed over me. There’s not a way I can properly write how wonderful affirmation--good, solid affirmation--is. This affirmation is not the puff-up affirmation, but a genuine, encouraging, life-giving affirmation
For the last few months I have experienced an uncharacteristically high level of anxiety and fear about my journey to Norther Ireland. I have hardly been able to think of a single good thing that will come of this journey there. But tonight! Tonight Ramon prayed, "take away the fear, God. All of it."
As people prayed, God reminded me of another perspective of experiencing life, a perspective free of suffocating fear. My friends prayed about peace and about God's presence and about His work and His goodness. They prayed about how He has called me and equipped me.
Praying out loud is especially wonderful because the moment the prayer is prayed, as long as I'm listening, God begins to shift and change me, bringing His breath of life into me. This pivotal part of the evening changed something in me. I can breathe!
2 comments:
I will be covering you in prayer. Hear it in your heart.
You write beautifully. And yes, prayer is powerful.
I've decided to go to Mexico City in January for my cross-cultural requirement. Though I travel frequently via written words, I have not been out of the country since my freshman year in high school, and that was to the Shakespeare Festival in Canada, just across the lake.
I'll be happy for all the fear calming prayers sent my way.
Enjoy this time!
Keep writing.
Clare's Grandma Rose
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