Lesson Learned

December 17 – Lesson Learned What was the best thing you learned about yourself this past year? And how will you apply that lesson going forward?


The best thing I learned about myself this past year is that I can make choices for myself and stand on my own two feet. I am happy with my choice to remain in Jackson and build a life here. I also have learned that I am a pretty adaptable person to Plan B's, and I have not at all felt any sense of disappointment or second-rate living, at ALL. God had a way better idea in mind for me this year than me going to graduate school where I'd always pictured myself going. I am excited to see all the ways His plans smash apart my own preconceived ones. Every time, His result puts my plans to shame! My plans are like a girl in pale makeup, who doesn't know how to enhance her looks. His plans are like a make-over on a girl that makes her absolutely stunning. BTW, that's the effect He has on me in general. He makes me beautiful, rather than my own ill-conceived, novice (as a friend of mine loves to say, neophyte) efforts for the same result. 


I've also learned about myself, with great relief and excitement, that my passion and energy level haven't and don't go away. Again, God is fueling that. Thank You, God. That's how these three lessons learned about who I am will move me forward: by making me more thankful, more trusting of God, more on the look-out for good endings, more flexible with what are disappointments in the moment. I will apply this lesson -- that I can be autonomous and I can be more than content with any direction my future takes -- by not fearing loss. When that fear grips me, I will call back up this lesson to mind. Because there is no condition in the future that could tear me from God's already proven goodness. He will only take me to good places. I can rest in that, and not fret over preserving the present or sweating the future, whether this or that door will open. All that's in my hands is to care for what I have (that and who has been given to me) in the present moment, diligently, and to try the doorknobs. I simply can't force any doors open, nor do I need to. That second part of that sentence is absolutely freeing!


The direction I want to go next is to be able and willing to exemplify and communicate God's grace and the gift of His son. I want to know what it is in me that makes me slow to share the gospel?