meeting

Good afternoon!
I got some fantastic feedback from my first day of #Reverb11 yesterday. Thanks for all the comments, guys! Jessica, JE, Meredith, Jessica M., and Daniel are all on board now if you want to follow along. A lot of people have been asking and you can find the list of prompts I'm working from here. :)

The prompt: Who did you meet?

Have you ever met someone and only a short while later wondered how you ever made it through without that person in your life? There is something beautiful about meeting someone and having an instant bond with them. That's how it was when I first met my now-roommate four years ago as a freshman. Within knowing each other for one week we sat down and had lunch and discussed in a very roundabout way how we wanted to live together the next year. We always joke that it's like they say... when you know you know.

That's how it was this past year when I met a few of these people:

Within only a few days of knowing one another, this girl and I started a game where I would see her from across a distance, yell her name, and run and leap into her arms. And you know what? That's exactly what we would do if I saw her now.

 
The Lord was definitely at work among this group of people from the moment we initially met one another. It was crazy to see how our paths each had been so different and yet had met up to bring us all to Cambellsville, Kentucky as we prepared to head out for a summer of serving together at camp. Within days of meeting one another we were sharing the deepest parts of our lives and building one another up as we came to see and understand the Gospel in a new and powerful light. We set the tone early in the summer that we were to operate as a family-- no one was expected to uphold perfection and we would all be there to literally lean on one another as we prayed together. The summer brought some hard things but I know that each of us has been changed from knowing one another and serving alongside one another as we worked selflessly to carry the Gospel to children. Those are relationships I am grateful for.

I also met some incredible, precious kids this summer at camp that have touched my heart in mighty ways. Some of their stories still stick with me daily.

Who else did I meet this year...

I got to meet some of these people for the first time. This family is incredible and I love how they live and laugh together. Thanks Rachel, I stole this picture from you. ;) You can check out more pictures from this weekend here. 

I met the Duggars. That was pretty awesome.   

I met some new members of my family. I met my brother's girlfriend for the first time this year, met my cousin's husband (love them!), and met my other cousin's cute baby, Lauren, for the first time.

I met a lot of new students and families at River Hills. Serving alongside them was such a blessing but I think the times I enjoyed most were just the sweet times of fellowship. Those kids will never cease to make me laugh.

Come on, how could I have chosen anything other than this awesome photo from a game we played last January? These boys are so silly.

I'd never really stopped to think about it until now, but I've met a lot of people this year. The people we meet and the choices we make are what shape who we are day by day, weather we realize it or not. I was reading last night in Grace for the Good Girl and the author, Emily Freeman, was beautifully describing life in the Garden and the moment when Eve first met the serpent, a meeting that changed everything for not just Eve but for the rest of humanity. She described with such beauty the way all was as it was made to be-- Adam, Eve, and God.

"They were one and they were three: man, woman, and Creator." 

They had met with one another and they were meeting with God moment by moment. Man, woman, and Creator. Exactly as it is intended to be. Let that thought dwell for a second.

"They were made in his image.
They lacked nothing.
Their needs were met.
The Tree of Life stood tall and safe in the middle of the Garden."

But of course we all know the story. The serpent, the crafty liar that he was, entered the scene and told Eve she could have more. Emily makes the interesting point that in Genesis 1:27 he tells Eve that if she eats of the tree of Knowledge, she could be like God when in fact she was already made in his image. She already was like God yet was continuing to seek out more and bought into the lie.

But I had this thought-- how was she really supposed to know it was a lie? Up until this point, Eve had known nothing but truth. What grounds did she have to question it? The concept of falsehood didn't even exist until this moment. Everything we hear today we run through the filter of whether it is true or false, even if we do so subconsciously. It's no wonder Eve fell into it-- she had never even experienced the possibility that something would be untrue.

So she ate. They both did. And all because of the relationship that was formed here between Eve and the serpent. And that relationship took the place of another relationship for all of us. Emily phrases it that "Love dislodged itself from her heart, sending her spiraling down into despair and doubt and death." As I thought about it last night, I had this realization:

At this point in scripture, Adam and Eve were no longer one with God. The Holy Spirit was removed from them and they were no longer walking as three in one. I cannot fathom what that feeling must have felt like-- to have the Holy Spirit literally removed from within you. I imagine a rush of cold swept over them and I'm grateful for the fact that once we as believers have chosen to let Christ inside of us, that same Holy Spirit promises to never leave or forsake us. In fact, this happens only one other time in scripture that I can think of and it's as Jesus is hanging on the cross, taking on the weight of the world. Scripture tells us that the Father couldn't even bear to look on His son and as God removed His presence from Christ, just as He was removed from Adam and Eve, the entire world literally went dark. Even records of history that don't support Christianity report a mysterious time when the world went dark for a while. That shows the magnitude of having the Spirit inside of you and the despair that it has removed us from with such grace.

And it's all because of a relationship... because of a meeting. Eve met with the serpent and it changed everything. But because of grace, you and I have been given the opportunity to meet face to face with Christ and be restored to walking with Him in the Garden.

Man, woman, and Creator.

I started this post off with a question: Who did you meet this year? and while it's been years since I initially met Christ, I pray that I meet Him and choose Him over and over again each day.

One relationship can change everything. Who are you meeting with today?