Embracing

Ryan and I sat with one of our tenants as she read through her daily devotional reading. She picked it at random and hit the audio button so we could all hear it together. I sank into the couch and closed my eyes to listen.

The day had been long, following a sleepless night. The hardest of unexpected news reached our ears just as we stretched out to sleep the night before. Jarred awake, we were up most of the night, praying, talking, processing. I hadn't even had a chance yet to journal my thoughts, and I ached for the rest of the work day to pass so I could retreat with my journal and release my heart to paper.

I tried to focus on the words I heard, hoping there might be a morsel contained within. My faith was weak - not able to trust that a reading picked randomly could be timely. 

I love it when God gifts mercy.

The man in the app read these words: "What if we instead embraced the hardships of life as an opportunity to not only know Jesus better, but to become more like Him along the way? That is the opportunity in front of us now."

I'll confess to you I have often used the hardships of life as an opportunity to know Jesus better, but I have not stopped to lean into allowing those same moments to mold me into becoming more like Him along the way.

Conviction.

Maybe you're in a hardship today? 

Lean in with me. 

My own words are few today, but I hope the impact of the borrowed words fills you as it did me.

Much love, friends.