importance

Hello, friends!
Today has been yet another one of those days that has moved a million miles an hour. The bittersweet news is that today I set foot in a classroom for the very last time in my undergrad career. I have very mixed feelings about that.

I've been thinking a lot about today's #reverb11 prompt and there are quite a few different directions I'd like to take this one all at one time. Please stick with me as I try to piece them all together.

The prompt: Who was important to you?

I had the thought earlier today that I wonder how many times I've spoken the sentence "He teaches high school in Mississippi..."

Two summers ago was my first summer working at camp, and I walked into it a mix of nerves and excitement. I had 32 incredible people on my team, one of whom was a boy that I decided before the summer began that I just didn't want to be friends with. Why? Because he was cute. And I didn't need to let my heart recognize that. Before training week had even ended, a mutual friend told me that he and I would be best friends and I spent the next year laughing that she was right. He was great. 

Fast forward a long, long way down the road. Skip over the DNows, the occasional phone calls, the growing friendship that I valued so much... fast forward all of that to one evening as I sat on the couch in my living room, angry at the world and (for maybe the first and only time) so frustrated with my roommates. Someone knocked on my door. That someone drove eight hours to surprise me and take me on our first date. That someone left me speechless that night and continues to do just that day by day.


In the year of 2011, that someone has taken on a whole new role in my life-- one I never even imagined or hoped for. Daniel Allan makes me laugh, pushes me on and encourages me, gives such Godly wisdom and counsel, and melts my heart as he loves on and invests in the kids around him each and every day. The most important thing to me is that he loves the Lord far more than I pray he'll ever even dream of liking me, and the outflow of that is so beautiful. He was important to me. He is important to me.


God has given me some other incredible blessings this past year that are fully worth mentioning as well...

I sat with my roommates tonight in the quiet at sweet tears sobbed warm into the carpet of our living room floor. I'll never stop thanking God for the years of family I have found behind the poorly painted front door of our apartment. We laugh together, weep together, lift one another up, encourage, admonish, dream, dance, sing, and even have the occasional roller derby. I can't put it into words. I've tried before so many times... and in full honesty, I am terrified of leaving that behind. I have mere days left to come home to a family who listens with open arms and that thought terrifies me. This bond isn't something that will ever end, this much I know full well. But I hate the thought of not coming home to the one place I know I can always be fully myself-- broken, whole, pretty, afraid, whatever. I'm beyond grateful. I thank the Lord for sisters. They're the best ones I've got.

My small group has become very important to me this year also. The beauty of it is that each of us is walking hand in hand through the tough decisions that unfortunately come with senior year. Most of us have been together since freshman year and I feel this group has brought it all full circle. I love to hear what Christ teaches each of those girls and I'm going to miss them dearly in the days to come.


My camp team has been important to me. Probably not a day goes by that I don't talk to someone and I'm grateful for the love and the support built in that place.


My family has been important to me. Always. I love watching those relationships grow and change as we all get older. Family are friends just as much as friends can be family. I am grateful for those.


My sweet friend, Karen, has been incredibly important to me. Thank you, Karen, for walking alongside me in quite a journey. We got to have lunch on Monday and I enjoyed sitting together once again and remembering all the times that we have been through-- times of frustration with leadership, times of questions in my life, times of celebration, stress, heartache, and revelation. Thanks for always listening, for always speaking truth, and for always being up for a cupcake and a dive into a new book. 


My church family has grown very important to me this year. I've been grateful for the chance to love and serve alongside them.


And above all, my God has been very important to me in the past year. He has revealed such truths to my heart and worked through all my imperfections, day by day by day. It's rarely easy but always rewarding. I've marveled as He's taken all my worries with grace and truth and worked them for His plan. I know He will continue to do that as I continue to lean on Him in the times to come. Praise God for His slow, persistent faithfulness.


I know tonight's post may not have been deep or inspiring, but my mind is a thousand places tonight. Until tomorrow, sweet friends.